What's another million between friends? The former Minister of the Economy, Manuel Pinho, received not €1 million, but €2 million from the Grupo Espírito Santo slush fund with payments starting in 2002.While he was Minister of the Economy, Pinho received hundreds of thousands of euros courtesy of Ricardo Salgado, (pictured left) the now-disgraced banker who headed the Espírito Santo Group of companies.
The transfers from Espírito Santo Enterprises began in July 2002 when around €15,000 a month was paid into offshore accounts controlled by Pinho.
During his term of office, Pinho received over €793,000 in accounts held by Mesete II and the Tartaruga Foundation, both of which Pinho controlled. Receiving these payment while in office is illegal under Portuguese law.
Some of the money was used by Pinho to buy a luxury apartment in New York in the name of an offshore company.
Payments from ES Enterprises to Pinho’s offshore entities did not end there as in 2013 and 2014, the former minister received another €315,000 into an account he held at Banque Privée Espírito Santo.
Why the payments? Manuel Pinho is suspected of receiving these bungs in exchange for decisions made while he was a minister that benefitted EDP at the expense of Portugal's taxpayers.
EDP is said by the regulator to have benefitted by €510 million in the compensation payments arranged by the government. These complex CMECs (Custos de Manutenção do Equilíbrio Contratual) have formed a huge part of EDP's profits since 2007 and continue to be paid.
Banco Espírito Santo then was a major shareholder in the electricity company and the convenient arrangement organised by the minister has benefitted EDP ever since.
Manuel Pinho
Manuel António Gomes de Almeida de Pinho is a Portuguese economist and former Minister of Economy and Innovation, who subsequently became a Professor at Columbia University under circumstances that led in 2017 to his indictment on passive corruption and influence peddling charges in Portugal.
Born: 28 Oct 1954 (age 63) · Lisbon, Portugal
Education: Paris West University Nanterre La Défense · Technical University of Lisbon
Previous office: Ministry of Economy (2005 - 2009)
2007:For six months in 2007, while Portugal held the rotating presidency of the European Union, Pinho chaired the EU Council of Competitiveness Ministers and the Transatlantic Economic Council.
Education: Paris West University Nanterre La Défense · Technical University of Lisbon
Previous office: Ministry of Economy (2005 - 2009)
2007:For six months in 2007, while Portugal held the rotating presidency of the European Union, Pinho chaired the EU Council of Competitiveness Ministers and the Transatlantic Economic Council.
2009:After resigning from his minister position in 2009, Pinho was rehired by the ESFG as vice-Chairman of its Banco Espírito Santo Africa subsidiary.
2014:Pinho’s relationship with the ESFG soured in 2014, when he demanded early payment of his pension benefits in anticipation of the collapse of ESFG, which happened shortly afterwards.
2016:In 2016, Pinho was referenced as having received 180,000 euros in offshore payments from a shell company for the ESFG.
2017:Pinho's perceived favouring of EDP-Energias de Portugal when he awarded it the 26 year hydro-electricity extension that was subsequently investigated by the EU Commission that on May 15, 2017 concluded that the government's approach had been fair and respected best practices.
2017:In June 2017, it also became the subject of a corruption and influence peddling investigation by the Portuguese Judicial Police that indicted Pinho, Mexia, two of Pinho's advisors from the time when he was minister, and three other suspects.
