Manuel Pinho is facing a double interrogation: the five questions to which the former Minister of the Economy will have to answer

Manuel Pinho was Minister of Economy between 2005 and 2009, after taking several decisions that, directly or indirectly, will have promoted the economic interests of EDP and the Group Espírito Santo, according to the suspects of the Prosecutors of the Central Department of Investigation and Criminal Action (DCIAP)

Pinho should begin to be heard at DCIAP in Lisbon: 10am. He also had an appointment with the members of the Economic Affairs Committee at 3 pm

The former minister had already stated that he would not speak to members until he was heard by the Crown. The dual questioning to which it will be submitted should address several common problems. Here are a few.

1. While he was Minister of the Economy, between 2005 and 2009, Manuel Pinho received around 800 thousand euros from Espírito Santo Enterprises, through monthly transfers of 14,964 euros to the Ministry of Economy and Finance. 39; Economy.

accounts of the Masete 2 and Turtle Foundation offshores. These transfers began in 2002 and lasted until 2012. Including these payments as well as other payments recorded by the Crown in the informal accounts of ES Enterprises, Pinho will have received GHGs a cumulative total of 3.5 million euros. Prosecutors of the Central Department of Investigation and Criminal Action (DCIAP) must confront him with the justification of these receipts, especially during the period when he was in the Government.

2. Has Ricardo Salgado asked for preferential treatment for the economic interests of the GES?

One of the prosecutors' suspects in the 184/12 process (which began by investigating the relationship between Pinho and EDP and had last defendant Ricardo Salgado) is that Manuel Pinho will have made decisions, as minister, to promote the economic interests of the Espírito Santo Group, not only for the participation of BES in EDP, but also for the benefit of GHG in the development of certain projects, such as the Herdade da Comporta. Ricardo Salgado was constituted accused in this process precisely because of these prosecutor suspects. The context of the real estate activity that Pinho did in 2009 with a BES fund should also be analyzed.

3. Why was he involved in the Ryder Cup's offer?

Manuel Pinho was publicly involved in the Portuguese bid for the Ryder Cup in 2018, one of the largest golf competitions in the world. The application aimed to organize the competition at Herdade da Comporta (excluding the possibility of achievement in the Algarve), which would be an important lever to develop the tourism component of this property of the group Espírito Santo. The lawyers of the DCIAP and the deputies of the Assembly of the Republic will have to confront Manuel Pinho to his implication (in February 2010, after leaving the government, he began to direct the executive committee of the candidature) in a project which the executive was part of granted PIN status (potential national interest, with acceleration of licensing).

4. How do you explain the options taken in 2007 compared to EDP?

The case in which Manuel Pinho is charged began by investigating Pinho's decisions in 2007 regarding EDP and the fact that since 2010 he went to teach at Columbia University, in a class that electricity has sponsored in the sum of $ 1.2 million. Pinho is suspected of having favored EDP in the revision of the contractual equilibrium maintenance costs (CMEC), taking into account the legal framework envisaged in 2004, as well as in the extension of the concessions of the company. water at EDP without tender of offers. In the latter case, EDP paid the State a consideration of 759 million euros, as a result of an assessment made by Credit Suisse and Caixa BI, while REN had assessed the value of this extension to more than 1.6 billion euros. Both within the DCIAP and in Parliament, Pinho should be called upon to explain the decisions that involved EDP and the context of his move to Colombia shortly after leaving the government.

What relationship did he have with the other accused?

Several defendants in the 184/12 case had a close relationship with Manuel Pinho. These are the cases of João Conceição (current director of REN) and Rui Cartaxo (former president of REN), who advised Pinho at the Ministry of Economy. Relations with Ricardo Salgado and António Mexia (also defendants in the same case) should also be in the interest of prosecutors and deputies