Shareholders want to file a class action lawsuit against BCP for damages over 20 years.

A group of former shareholders who bought BCP stock about 20 years ago and lost because of falling prices have started a movement to form a victims' association and file a lawsuit against the bank.

"We've gotten a lot of contacts, about 200, but unfortunately most of them can't proceed, in many cases because of lack of documents. So far we have 100-120 cases that can be referred to class action proceedings and more should appear before January," one of the initiators of the movement, Antonio Lima, told Agencia Lusa.

This former entrepreneur has already sued BCP, believing he was defrauded when he bought shares between 2001 and 2003 because of the bank's provision of false information about the sale of his shares. The trial ended this year with the bank having to pay him more than 400 thousand euros.

Antonio Lima explained that what was important for the success of his trial was that the courts recognized that the former administrators of BCP (Jorge Jardim Gonçalves, Filipe Piñal and Antonio Rodriguez) committed the crime of market manipulation from 1999 to 2007, and he believes that this will also be important for the movement they have just started.

He also said the judgment in his case establishes that investors have 20 years to sue because the financial intermediary committed a "breach of duty to inform" with "grave culpability".

Antonio Lima told Luce that he would not claim anything more and that the compensation would make up for the difference between buying and selling the shares, but would not make up for the fact that his life was disrupted for several years because of it (company bankruptcy, seized properties, name on the Bank of Portugal blacklist) and that he decided to lead this movement to help others in the same situation.

"I woke up in 2014 (when I found out about a company in the Azores demanding compensation from BCP for buying shares), and before that I didn't know what to do. I and my unfortunate comrades are very interested in spreading the word as much as possible, some people have already died, but there are heirs to give these victims an opportunity," he said, explaining why they decided to pay for newspaper advertisements announcing "Prazovinte - BCP Victims Association" with a contact e-mail and notifying "20 years to sue" and "Join us".

The association does not yet exist officially, but the initiators intend to create it early next year and file a class action lawsuit. They rely on attorneys to help select cases that have the capacity to participate in a class action.

In 2008, a mediation process took place between BCP and shareholders who felt aggrieved by the bank, with the participation of the Securities and Exchange Commission (CMVM).

BCP was founded in 1985 by a group of entrepreneurs led by Jardim Gonsalves. The bank has had periods of great growth, starting with transactions (acquisition of Banco Português do Atlântico, Pinto & S

Jardim Gonçalves left in 2005 (succeeded by Teixeira Pinto), and a few years later a power struggle between rival shareholder groups began.

Jardim Gonsalves has been charged in several cases, the most serious of which is market manipulation (for events that occurred between 1999 and 2007) using offshore companies owned by the bank to influence share volume and prices. The founder of BCP has always maintained that he is innocent and that there has been "embezzlement" of the bank, including by the political authorities.

The largest shareholders in BCP are currently China's Fosun Group (29.95%) and Angolan oil company Sonangol (19.49%). The bank has a wide dispersion of shares on the stock exchange with more than 100 thousand shareholders.

Besides Portugal, the bank, under the leadership of Miguel Maia, has an important operation in Poland and a presence in Mozambique.