Three Secretaries of State who took free, expenses paid trips to the Euro 2016 match in March, resigned on Sunday, "to avoid harming the government."
Fernando Rocha Andrade, João Vasconcelos and Jorge Costa Oliveira saw nothing wrong at all in accepting the boondoggle on offer from energy giant, Galp, despite the fact that Galp owes the State a significant amount in back-tax and continues to challenge the ‘Extraordinary Contribution of the Energy Sector' tax that everyone one else in the energy sector seems to have had no credible objection to paying.
The three men accepted invitations to attend Portugal vs Hungary in Lyon (3:3) in an ‘all expenses paid’ trip with other ‘friends of the company’ and a later statement from the Ministry of Finance made clear that this sort of lavish entertainment was "totally acceptable and within normal social boundaries."
Their carefully prepared explanation on Sunday, as the trio quit their lucrative government posts, was that they now can ‘concentrate on their defence’ and in fact will ask to become witnesses, just so they can 'put their side of the story.'
Concentrate they will - this morning all were made official suspects in a case being put together by the State Prosecutor in which they been named as ‘receiving unfair advantage while in public office,’ and therefore they could be implicated in a criminal prosecution with up to five years in prison or a career-damaging fine.
Such was 2016 flack that exploded around the ears of these secretaries of state when the trip came to light, it is only a wonder it has taken so long for them to quit their untenable positions.
All three say they subsequently paid Galp for the full cost of the boondoggle, but this has yet to be confirmed and repayments alone have not been enough to keep them from the attention of the Attorney General’s Office.
One of the Algarve’s most active Socialist Party MPs, Cristóvão Norte also went on the 2016 trip but his excuse was more inventive.
Norte said that he and his wife accepted the trip as a ‘gift from a friend’ who just happened to work for Galp. Norte represents the Algarve’s interests which currently are threatened by Galp which, in partnership with ENI, has oil drilling rights in offshore exploration blocks.
With Galp owing the Portuguese treasury so much tax - the estimates vary but all run into hundreds of millions of euros - Fernando Rocha Andrade’s acceptance of a luxury trip to the football match clearly put him in an untenable position as he was the Secretary of State for Fiscal Affairs and would have been dealing with Galp.
João Vasconcelos was Secretary of State for Industry and Jorge Costa Oliveira was Secretary of State for Internationalisation. Post-euro 2016, both men would have had to withdraw from any official discussion or dealings with Galp, making it hard to fulfil their remit.
Galp says that it is normal to invite several personalities to sponsor events.
"Galp considers that the support provided to the national team in Euro 2016, of which it has been one of the main official sponsors since 1999, was carried out in accordance with the law," says Galp whcih says that the invitations to travel, "are traditional practices followed by several companies and had no other purpose than support the national team."
These resignations are good news for a public demanding full accountability from government but they will not take much pressure of the prime minister who faces a collapsing health service sector, the aftermath of the Pedrógão Grande fire and the missing weapons fiasco at Tancos.
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Innocent until proved guilty, from the left: Fernando Rocha Andrade, João Vasconcelos and Jorge Costa Oliveira
See also;'Galp flew top Portuguese politicians to Euro2016'
