Luís Montenegro, Hugo Soares and Luís Campos Ferreira will be defendants in the Galpgate case in which politicians are accused of benefitting from free travel and hospitality at Euro 2016 in France, courtesty of the energy company.
Former parliamentary leaders Luís Montenegro, Hugo Soares and former Secretary of State Luís Campos Ferreira are going to be indicted on suspicions of receiving undue advantage.
The three Social Democrats were notified by the Lisbon Prosecutor to make statements as defendants in one of the two investigations that were started following revelations that Galp had paid for politician's flights and tickets to Euro 2016.
In addition to these social democrats, there are several ex-Secretaries of State of the Socialist Party Government who are accused of the same crime: João Vasconcelos, former Secretary of State for Industry, Fernando Rocha Andrade, former Secretary of State and Jorge Oliveira, the former Secretary of State for Internationalisation, were accused in July 2017 after resigning from the António Costa government.
Vitor Escária, a former economic adviser to Prime Minister, António Costa, also was accused, as was João Bezerra da Silva (former chief of staff of Rocha Andrade), Pedro Almeida Matias (former chief of staff of Vasconcelos) and MP Cristóvão Norte (PSD).
In a joint statement sent to the Observador, Luís Montenegro, Hugo Soares and Luís Campos Ferreira confirm the news and affirm that, "with surprise but also with absolute tranquility, we know that in the scope of research carried out following the so-called Euro 2016 trips, the Public Prosecutor's Office decided to constitute us defendants."
The Social Democrats have reiterated their "total willingness to provide the necessary clarifications, reaffirming, without leniency, that we did not commit any crime and that the trips were at our own expense."
Algarve MP, Cristóvão Norte’s wafer-thin excuse is that he accepted the invitation because it came from a friend of his who worked at Galp and therefore this was not an invitation of an ‘institutional nature.’
When asked if the oil company, rather than the friend, had paid for the trip, Norte said, "yes, I suppose it was."
Galp is a noted non-payer of taxes and is involved in the Santola oil and gas concession of the Algarve/Alentejo west coast.
It sould have been abundantly clear to the recipients of the oil company’s largesse, that it would be best to steer clear of the company’s legendary corporate hospitality.
The case continues to be built and should be ready by August.
