The parliamentary committee, established to look into the hundreds of millions of taxpayer euros that have been handed over to EDP as part of the dodgy CMEC deal, has published the list of people from whom it wants to hear evidence.
The Left Bloc has submitted a request that the committee calls all the prime ministers since and including Durão Barroso but excluding the current PM, António Costa.
Going by the snappy title of 'The Parliamentary Committee of Inquiry on the Payment of Excessive Income to Producers of Electricity,' the committee will look into the so-called Contractual Equilibrium Maintenance Costs (CMEC), to establish whether the government of the day signed cosy agreements that benefitted EDP at the expense of taxpayers.
The disgraced and incompetent banker, Ricardo Salgado is on the list, as is former PM José Sócrates amid a tally of 43 well known names who, the committee aims to establish, colluded to rip-off the taxpayer by an estimated €500 million, and counting.
The Left Bloc also has presented a list of 19 documents that it wants the committee to demand. These include all correspondence and documents sent or received by members of the Portuguese government to representatives of the European Commission, to the Directorate-General for Competition of the EC and to the Troika, during the period in question, as well as copies of any opinions produced by the regulatory authorities on the matter.
The bundle of requests was delivered by Left bloc MPs Jorge Costa and Moisés Ferreira to the chairman of the committee of inquiry, Mercês Borges.
The commission is to meet on June 5 to approve the first list of documents to demand. On June 14 the committee will approve the first list of people it wants to question in person, after which the fun will commence.
The list includes the former heads of the responsible regulatory bodies: Jorge Vasconcelos and Vítor Santos, former presidents of the Regulatory Entity for Energy Services (ERSE), and Cristina Portugal, the current president of ERSE, as well as Abel Mateus, Manuel Sebastião and António Ferreira Gomes, former presidents of the Competition Authority.
Then there’s the politicians: Carlos Tavares (Economy Minister between 2002 and 2004), Durão Barroso (Prime Minister from 2002 to 2004), Santana Lopes (who led the Social Democrat government from 2004 to 2005), Socialists Manuel Pinho - already accused of receving €2.5 million in backhanders from EDP - and José Sócrates (respectively former Minister of the Economy and Prime Minister), Vítor Gaspar and Pedro Passos Coelho (former Finance Minister and former Prime Minister), Jorge Seguro Sanches and Manuel Caldeira Cabral (the current Secretary of State for Energy and Minister of Economy, respectively).
Also, Henrique Gomes, the Secretary of State for Energy in the Passos Coelho government who wanted to intervene in the money being shelled out to EDP but swiftly was removed from the Government. His successor, Artur Trindade, also will be called.
As for the businessmen, there’s Rui Cartaxo (Manuel Pinho's deputy before being executive president of REN, another of the companies that benefit from the CMEC), João Manso Neto and António Mexia (president of EDP Renováveis and president of EDP, respectively), Ricardo Salgado, former president of Banco Espírito Santo which was a major shareholder in EDP and which benefited from the CMEC payments made to EDP since 2007 when the scheme was dreamt up.
The list:
1. Jorge Vasconcelos – Presidente da ERSE between 1997 and 2007
2. Vítor Santos – Presidente da ERSE between 2007 and 2017
3. Cristina Portugal – Presidente da ERSE from 2017
4. Abel Mateus – Presidente da Autoridade da Concorrência between 2003 and 2008
5. Manuel Sebastião – Presidente da Autoridade da Concorrência between 2008 and 2013
6. António Ferreira Gomes – Presidente da Autoridade da Concorrência between 2013 and 2016
7. Orlando Borges – Presidente do Instituto Nacional da Água (INAG) between 2000 and 2010
8. David Newbery – Diretor da consultora Cambridge Economic Policy Associates
9. Franquelim Alves – Secretário de Estado Adjunto do ministro da Economia between 2002 and 2004
10. Carlos Tavares – Ministro da Economia between 2002 and 2004
11. Durão Barroso – primeiro-ministro between 2002 and 2004
12. Paulo Pinho – Adjunto do ministro da Economia Carlos Tavares between 2002 e 2004; membro do conselho de administração da REN between 2004 and 2007
13. Ricardo Ferreira – Assessor dos ministros da Economia Carlos Tavares e Álvaro Barreto between 2003 and 2005
14. João Conceição – Assessor de Franquelim Alves entre 2002 e 2004, assessor de Manuel Pinho between 2007 and 2009, administrador da REN from 2010
15. Miguel Barreto – Diretor da Direção-Geral de Energia e Geologia between 2004 and 2008
16. Manuel Lencastre – Secretário de Estado do Desenvolvimento Económico between 2004 and 2005
17. Álvaro Barreto – Ministro da Economia between 2004 and 2005
18. Santana Lopes – Primeiro-ministro between 2004 and 2005
19. Vítor Baptista – Membro do Conselho de Administração da REN between 2001 and 2009, responsável pela área de concessões
20. Rui Cartaxo – Adjunto do ex-ministro da Economia Manuel Pinho, ex-CEO REN
21. António Vitorino – Presidente da Assembleia Geral da EDP, representante indicado pelo Estado nas negociações com a Comissão Europeia in 2007
22. Eurico Brilhante Dias – Administrador da AICEP Global Parques between 2007 and 2010
23. Castro Guerra – Secretário de Estado Adjunto da Indústria e da Inovação 2005 and 2009
24. Carlos Zorrinho – Secretário de Estado da Energia between 2009 and 2011
25. Nunes Correia – Ministro do Ambiente between 2005 and 2009
26. Manuel Pinho – Ministro da Economia between 2005 and 2009
27. José Sócrates – Primeiro-ministro between 2005 and 2011
28. Pedro Cabral – Assessor dos Secretários de Estado da Energia Henrique Gomes e Artur Trindade between 2011 and 2012, diretor da Direção-Geral de Energia e Geologia between 2012 and 2014
29. Tiago Andrade Sousa – Assessor de Franquelim Alves between 2002 and 2004 e chefe de gabinete dos Secretários de Estado da Energia Henrique Gomes e Artur Trindade between 2011 and 2015
30. Henrique Gomes – Secretário de Estado da Energia between 2011 and 2012
31. Artur Trindade – Secretário de Estado da Energia between 2012 and 2015
32. Vítor Gaspar – Ministro das Finanças between 2011 and 2013
33. Álvaro Santos Pereira – Ministro da Economia between 2011 and 2013
34. Jorge Moreira da Silva – Ministro do Ambiente e Energia between 2013 and 2015
35. Carlos Moedas – Ministro da Presidência between 2011 and 2015
36. Passos Coelho – Primeiro-ministro between 2011 and 2015
37. Jorge Seguro Sanches – Secretário de Estado da Energia from 2015
38. Manuel Caldeira Cabral – Ministro da Economia from 2015
39. José Penedos – CEO da REN between 2001 and 2009
40. João Talone – CEO da EDP between 2003 and 2006
41. João Manso Neto – Membro do Conselho de Administração da EDP from 2006
42. António Mexia – CEO da EDP from 2006
43. Ricardo Salgado – CEO do BES between 1991 and 2014
