According to a source in the second parliamentary committee of Inquiry into the capital injection into and management of state bank Caixa Geral de Depósitos (CGD), its members have already been officially notified of the request, which was made through the law firm Saragoça da Matta & Silveiro de Barros.

On May 18 public broadcaster RTP reported that Joe Berardo, as he is usually known, wanted to sue the committee chairman, Luís Leite Ramos of the opposition Social Democrats, but it has now emerged that his beef is with other committee members, too.

In the hearing, Berardo asked that it not be broadcast live on ARTV, the parliament channel.

The live transmission was "totally illicit", said his lawyer, André Luiz Gomes, at the time.

The hearing was not filmed by media present, since he had asked them not to. However, his request that ARTV also not broadcast it was not accepted by the committee chair, who said that he had only been informed of it shortly before the start of proceedings and so did not raise the matter in a meeting with committee members but instead made the decision alone.

Berardo's appearance before the inquiry triggered a chorus of criticism, including of his manner of addressing deputies.

The Madeira-born businessman said that it was "clear" he has no personal debts, even if entities linked to him did owe money to banks, including CGD.

He also said that he tried to "help the banks" by providing guarantees, and that they suggested that he invest in shares in BCP, a non-state bank.

He also implied that profit participation certificates in Associação Coleção Berardo (the owner of the art collection he amassed over the years) that he handed to the banks as a guarantees for loans to his companies had lost value when the entity’s capital was increased and the lenders did not participate in it - apparently because they did not know about it.

To several questions from deputies, Berardo had also said that they should be put to the banks concerned. When it was put to him that CGD "is costing a lot of money," he replied: "Not to me!"

One 23 May, Joe Berardo admitted in a statement that he had overdone things in the committee hearing, but said that he had had no intention "to offend anyone, much less to fail to show the respect due to” parliament.