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The decision could only be taken in mid-December, but it has already appeared – a few days before the mutual association of Montepio (December 7), but at a time when many members voted by mail on the list that they prefer to manage the association for the triennium 2019-2021. The government has already issued the ordinance that requires the Mutual to be supervised by the Supervisory Authority for Insurance and Pension Funds (ASF). What is changing in the mutual association and what impact can this decision, long requested by the opponents of Tomás Correia, have in the elections?
11392-A / 2018, published in the Diário da República on Thursday 29 November, establishes the transitional regime (12 years) for the way in which the two institutions whose characteristics will be supervised by the ASF were considered sufficient to stop being supervised by the Ministry of Labor and Social Security, headed by Minister Jose António Vieira da Silva.
This analysis was based on "the financial volume of the mutual associations which continue to benefit from the social security benefits managed by the capitalization obtained through the reports and accounts of their respective associations". A special framework is set up for "mutual associations, as well as their unions, federations and confederations, whose gross annual volume of social security benefits managed under a funded scheme exceeds EUR 5 million and whose total gross value of funds associated with their funding exceeds 25 million euros.
Thus, the order determines that the two institutions are the Montepio Geral Associação Mutualista and the Monaf (National Association of Mutual Aid Pharmacy of Montepio).
The decree arrives before the end of the time allowed to convert into legislation the new Code of Mutual Associations, promulgated by the President of the Republic on July 8 and entered into force on September 2. That was, according to publicOn October 12, the hedged entities were defined. The deadline for the publication of the order (which ended 48 days later) began from 60 days.
The idea is to shift the supervision of the largest mutuals to a better equipped entity to evaluate the financial instruments in which members of the Montepio mutual fund invest. These are processes that are formally independent of the electoral process that is approaching (or, indeed, already in progress, taking into account postal votes). But the temporal coincidence ends, in practice, with enormous relevance for the elections.
List B, conducted by Tomás Correia's "dissident" António Ribeiro Mendes, has already considered the publication of this ordinance as "vitally important for the future of Associação Mutualista", making it available to submit to the new supervisory authority the necessary documentation to certify that None of the members of the list is involved in any administrative or judicial procedure that: to hold positions in the entity now supervised by the FAA, which has much more aptitude criteria. strict than the previous supervision.
According to the new code of mutual societies, to which this order refers, it is specified that the directors of mutuals must be "able persons, especially because they have not been sentenced, in Portugal or at the same time". 39, for an intentional tort against property, misuse of a guarantee or credit card, usury, willful or willful insolvency, unlawful appropriation of public or non-profit property, falsification , corruption, money laundering, illicit practice of managing pension funds, misuse of information and manipulation of the securities market ".
The publication of the ordinance implements and implements an important part of the code of mutual associations of 2 September, namely the financial supervision of the FSA. Until now, all the mutuals were governed by the government, through the Ministry of Labor, Social Security and Solidarity (and in some cases by the Ministry of Health, because of their activities in this domain). All will maintain the regulation of the trusteeship of Vieira da Silva, but the mutual association of Montepio Geral and Monaf will have additional obligations towards ASF.
Which? The primary duty of the Insurance and Pension Supervisory Authority "is to require the submission of a detailed plan setting out the essential stages and steps for the adjustment to the supervisory regime provided for in Chapter X, Section III of the Code. ". On the other hand "Require the submission of financial information with the date of entry into force of this decree-law"that is, it is possible to ask the Mutualista Association for information until 2 September.
Another of these obligations is also fundamental, provided that the FSA can "analyze the governance and risks mutual associations are or may be exposed and their ability to assess these risks by reference to the legal, regulatory and administrative provisions in force in the insurance sector. "But there is more, as we will see in the next answer.
In two ways. The first has already been said: there are in the new code specific articles that limit access to the general council of mutuals to "qualified persons" in the terms already mentioned in the previous questions, namely the absence of conviction for certain crimes. A second, even more indirect, is Article 11 of the new Code, which allows Law 147/2015 to apply to mutuals. And what is the law 147/2015? This is the legal regime "access and exercise of the insurance and reinsurance business ", which also specifies "the procedural regime applicable to special offenses in the insurance and pension funds sector and to professional misconduct".
In this legal regime, there are several articles on the aptitude of those who work in the sector. All this verified by the ASF. These include Articles 64, 65 and 66, which require that holders of responsibilities in insurance companies (and now mutual insurers) are properly valued and dispose of it to ensure sound and prudent business management at all times It also states that "ASF can determine that the governance system will be improved and strengthened to ensure compliance."
Article 68 of the same Law 147/2015, which relates specifically to aptitude, is more relevant to Tomás Correia – who defended himself by asserting that he has never been sentenced for the serious irregularities of which he is accused. The new code Mutualistas approved in September indicates that the criterion of aptitude is the conviction for intentional crimes, provided for in article 100. But with the supervision by ASF of Montepio Geral Mutuality and Monaf, the regulator continues to be able to apply the law 147/2015, where the sieve is a narrower filter: it is not enough not to have been sentenced to meet the requirement of aptitude. I must not have been "accused or pronounced", which Tomás Correia has already been.
The current president of the mutual fund association, also chairman of the savings bank until 2015, was accused by the Bank of Portugal in 2017 of serious irregularities related to the alleged financing Espírito Santo Group (GES), which was already experiencing serious financial difficulties in the first half of 2014, and for alleged financing of Paulo Jorge Guilherme, son of builder José Guilherme, through Finibanco Angola. The process is not over yet.
Relations between Tomás Correia and the director of construction, José Guilherme, have also been the subject of an investigation by the prosecutor's office. Tomás Correia is suspected of having received 1.5 million euros from the builder, a transfer that will be tied to the approval of a 74 million euro bank loan of savings, under the direction of Tomás Correia, for the purchase of Marconi Parque in the Serra de Alfragide Amadora
As soon as he was charged by the Bank of Portugal in March 2017, Tomás Correia assured that "there was always a possibility of res judicata to my detriment, in whatever court, for any act illegal, I would abdicate the performance of my duties ", adding that"deeply convinced and convinced that it will not happen".
Since then, and with the announcement of the recandidatura in the center, Tomás Correia's speech has not changed significantly. In an interview published on Nov. 17, granted to TSF and Dinheiro Vivo, Tomás Correia says "absolutely certain" that the new rules of the mutual code do not detract from his ability to hold this position. It is only by "bad faith" or by "ignorance" that we can assume the opposite, he commented.
"I am absolutely certain that the regulation of the mutual code and what is falsely accused in many circumstances will not prevent me from continuing to develop my activity in the mutual," Tomás said. Correia, asserting that "this will be easily proven in a very short time when new social bodies seize it". This is an analysis that will have to be done by the ASF, even if a decision comes only after the vote or the inauguration (if Tomás Correia wins).
The observer attempted to contact the official source of Tomás Correia's list to comment on this dispatch, but received no response.
No. According to the information collected by the observer, ASF did not initiate, until the publication of this order, any basic work for the financial supervision of the mutualist led by Tomás Correia. And until Friday, December 7, election day, the board of directors will meet once – composed of President José Almaça, Vice President Filipe Ferreira Serrano and Member Nazaré Barroso.
If there is only one meeting, it is unlikely that the ASF Board will take any concrete action regarding the mutual organization from which it has just received supervision. financial.
In any event, the natural practice would not be to assess the suitability of the applications, but rather the list of winners, was explained to the observer specializing in the legal and financial fields. There would be another deadline: the date of the inauguration of the winner of the elections of December 7, a month later. And is it realistic to admit that there may be an assessment of the mutualist until early January? Not too much, the pace of ASF is not so fast, say sources heard by the Observer.
This is not the waiting list C, led by António Godinho. Thursday's decision and its implications, says the candidate, "force the authorities to decide on the suitability of Dr. Tomás Correia and the other candidates on his list." And "he must withdraw his ability, do it immediately because" not to clarify this situation will only hurt the institution and its reputation, which is his most important asset, "said the candidate in a reply sent in writing.
But António Godinho leaves another solution, this time to the tutelage. "The common dispatch today essentially means two things: the transfer of responsibility from the government to the new regulator to the situation of Tomás Correia and, at the same time, a clear message for the current management team, which It is therefore no longer necessary to even vote, in defense of the institution, its associates and its workers. "Godinho underlines, without specifying, a criticism that has been made: with the publication of the new code in September, the tutelage of Vieira da Silva could have already assessed the ability of Tomás Correia to move away from the elections.
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