The 70-year-old uncle of PSD parliamentary leader Luís Montenegro is back in the news today after a court found him guilty of processing hundreds of entry visas to Europe for young women in exchange for sex while he was ambassador to Senegal.
This latest disgrace – that threatens yet another embarrassing ricochet on the country’s ‘leading’ political party – is perhaps curious for its timing.
António Montenegro, now 70 years old, was ambassador to Senegal 10 years ago.
His hasty recall in 2009 was prompted by a police investigation into an alleged VIP prostitution racket which is understood to have involved “various socialites in the capital, who frequented the Portuguese embassy in search of female companions”.
Montenegro’s replacement by Rui Tereno appears to have put an end to the matter.
Now, however, his reputation has been further tarnished after a Lisbon court sentenced him to a total of four-and-a-half years in jail for the crimes of aiding illegal immigration, passive corruption, abuse of power and falsification of documents.
The court heard how Montenegro and a former female staff member of staff authorised hundreds of visas in return for “clear benefits” – particularly clear when it came to the former ambassador, explains Jornal de Notícias.
Sex was not the only favour furnished in the process, the paper adds. There was also the issue of “elevated quantities of money”.
Nonetheless, it is fairly certain that the former ambassador will avoid jail.
JN writes that he is more likely to be saddled with a €10,000 fine, which will suspend his jail term, while co-defendant Isabel Craveiro – handed a two-year sentence – may well be able to avoid prison by paying a lesser fine of €2,500.
Only national tabloid Correio da Manhã alludes to the upset, over a decade ago, involving call-girls and allegations of orgies on embassy premises – saying that these issues were “crimes that had nothing to do with Portugal” and so were not included in evidence during the court case.
As to Montenegro’s “denouement”, JN explains this came as the welter of young women on “sex-visas” arrived in Lisbon apparently “not fulfilling even the minimum requirements demanded” of people seeking European entry visas.
Border control agency SEF mounted an inquiry which led, embarrassingly, to Montenegro’s “official residence” and office, where “hundreds of processes for suspect visas” were seized.
Given the legendary sloth of Portuguese justice, it is still odd that the case should only come to judgement now, four months before the country’s legislative elections.
Meantime, JN reports that the fines that may substitute the jail sentences will be paid to associations supporting immigrants.
