It used to be a private bank, but was nationalized by the Portuguese Government in 2008 after a bad management and malpractice-related debt of 1.800 billion euros and several irregularities uncovered in the institution.
José Oliveira e Costa, who was the CEO of BPN between 1997 and early 2008, was arrested on charges of suspected tax fraud, money laundering, forgery, abuse of credit and illegal gains.
[3] In spite of having "a market share of around 2 percent",[4] the case of BPN was particularly serious because of its political implications[citation needed] - Portugal's then current President Aníbal Cavaco Silva and some of his political allies maintained personal and business relationships with the bank and Oliveira e Costa[5][6][7] In the grounds of avoiding a potentially serious financial crisis in the Portuguese economy, the Portuguese government decided to give them a bailout, eventually at a future loss to taxpayers.
Socialist and communist deputies also raised the issue in parliament, but their bid to prevent the planned sale was outvoted by the ruling centre-right coalition.
[1] Still, Christie's withdraw the works from sale[12] only hours before the auction was scheduled to start, citing "legal uncertainties created by this ongoing dispute".