A ‘new story’ of alleged institutional skullduggery has cast doubt on the suitability of the current boss of State Bank CGD.
Paulo Macedo – health minister ‘hatchet man’ during the worst of the crisis years – was hired in 2017 to bring CGD ‘back from the brink’ (click here).
Now it seems he was instrumental in offering the advisor of one of the big political names caught up in various purported scandals a plum job in which said advisor was paid 153,000 euros over a period of nine months without actually doing a thing.
Tabloid Correio da Manhã broke the news last weekend, but it has now been confirmed by the rest of the nation’s mainstream media which explain the situation is very likely to prompt the European Central Bank to “reevaluate Macedo’s suitability to remain at the helm of a State bank”.
The facts of the case hark back to the ‘Sócrates’ era’ which has been the focus of so many criminal investigations.
As CM explained on August 31, “João Conceição, former advisor to Manuel Pinho in the government of José Sócrates, earnt more than 153,000 euros as a director of BCP bank between September 2008 and May 2009, but BCP has not found any proof of services rendered by Conceição”.
BCP’s current executive director Manuel Maya looked into the period in question himself – after BCP was approached by DCIAP criminal investigators to “provide detailed information on the hiring of João Conceição”.
The damning report was delivered to DCIAP earlier this summer – and the contents now have allegedly added to evidence in the case known as ‘EDP’ – “a story of power, suspicions of corruption and revolving doors” in the words of online newsfeed Observador.
Conceição’s former boss, Manuel Pinho is ‘in the eye of authorities’ over the EDP case and over allegations that he ‘favoured the Espírito Santo group’ during his time in government.
Paulo Macedo – who at the time Conceição was hired was a director at BCP – has previously denied any responsibility over the appointment, suggesting responsibility lay with the administration of the time.
But somehow this explanation hasn’t convinced.
Explain reports, Macedo was director of human resources back in 2008 “and was the origin of the possible irregular hiring of Jõao Conceição”.
Conceição himself has ‘refuted’ the allegations, saying the equivalent of ‘why now?’, bearing in mind over 10 years have passed.
CM claims BCP asked Conceição to repay the 153,000 euros – “for non-compliance with the terms of employment” – but that he has refused.
There is the suggestion that BCP had some kind of ‘deal’ to get the money back eventually from EDP, but EDP has ‘guaranteed’ that this never happened.
And so the allegations lurch on, with so many public figures seemingly tainted but nothing yet proven in court.
