Passos Coelho is at the centre of a new ‘scandal’ this week, centring on money he allegedly received when he was an MP prohibited from receiving any other kind of income.
According to national weekly Sábado, the prime minister received a total of €150,000 for his work as president of an NGO designed to get EC funding for services company Tecnoforma.
The “illegal” payments were made between 1997 and 1999, claims Sábado.
Intriguingly, Público has followed up the story, maintaining its journalists have also been on the trail of “backhander” allegations for years, repeatedly pressing Passos Coelho for information.
“In spite of the multiple insistences made, this question has never received an answer,” Público reveals.
The question did not mention the word “back-hander” as such. It simply asked the prime minister whether he had “ever received any payment” from Tecnoforma.
As Público explains, the mere fact that Passos Coelho was a “deputado em exclusividade” (not entitled to receive money other than his State salary) meant that any payments made to him would, in effect, constitute backhanders.
It gets worse. Público also points out: “To confirm the existence of these payments, Passos Coelho comes up against … not having declared this income”, which would also imply that he had evaded the tax authorities.
Sábado’s story, published mid-week, focuses on the fact that criminal investigations are now said to be ongoing.
Passos Coelho’s office meantime has simply issued a statement saying that the PM will collaborate with any investigation if he is approached, but that he maintains his convictions that he has always acted within his legal obligations.
Público’s follow-up story adds fuel to the sparking fire, quoting the former boss of Tecnoforma saying the equivalent of “Passos Coelho didn’t get his job by being a pretty face”.
Now 70 and saying he just wants “to forget the whole story”, Fernando Madeira told Público this week: “I am convinced that he received something, but I cannot talk about amounts because I cannot prove anything.”
The businessman “repeated many times”: “The man (Passos Coelho) didn’t get there because of his pretty blue-peepers (lindos olhos),” adds Público.
To add more intrigue to the story, Madeira told the paper that the man who would know about any payments made to Passos Coelho, while he ran the NGO set up by Tecnoforma to clinch EC contracts, is now dead.
Madeira also said he sold his shares in Tecnoforma in 2001, and has never received the money he negotiated with the purchasers.
In the intervening time, Tecnoforma has been declared insolvent.
It now remains to be seen how far these allegations go, and how many opposition MPs start howling for transparency. Certainly, this has been a terrible pre-election year for the prime minister who has always maintained he is not in danger of losing his energy.
