Passos Coelho has sprung somewhat of a surprise on his political allies, and the nation, by announcing the return to politics of his friend, the disgraced former minister, Miguel Relvas.
After less than a year out of the limelight the proven liar, Miguel Relvas, is to take the top position in the PSD party, replacing Paulo Rangel as head of the PSD National Council. Rangel conveniently is to become a PSD European candidate. Whether this was his original plan is a state secret.
Relvas is back to party politics after less than a year out of public life and has been bounced to the top PSD party job over of Nilza Sena who will be his number two, followed by Hélder Silva and Vitor Martins.
The National Council is the "body responsible for the development and execution of political strategy" and also provides "political oversight of the activities of national and regional agencies." Here is the conundrum as any political strategy that involves recruiting Relvas is by definition a suspect one.
Relvas is perhaps best known for having obtained a university degree without stooping so low as to take classes or exams, which led to his resignation in disgrace from his ministerial position in February 2013.
It is unknown why Passos Coelho, presiding over a government that states with all sincerity that it is intent on being tough on corruption, has allowed his friend back into political life.
A summary of the sort of dealing Relvas has been involved in to date would seem to preclude him from any position of political responsiblity, the relief felt by many when he resigned last year now seems a cruel joke.
Wikipedia has a good review of the more salient points that have cropped up during Relvas' business and political life -
"Miguel Relvas' high-flying career has been stained by a pattern of taking personal advantage of political office without apparently breaking the law. Known instances include:
Pocketing and abusing of official allowances - as a MP, Miguel Relvas was one of several Portuguese parliamentarians to have pocketed out-of-town housing allowances despite living in Lisbon, and airfare allowances for trips not made or made in lower classes of service than entitled. As president of the municipal assembly of Tomar, he claimed for €30,000 in phone calls on his official phone paid for by the municipality.
Cronyism - on becoming Minister of Parliamentary Affairs in 2011, Miguel Relvas appointed for himself and his four Secretaries of State a total of 56 advisors ("assessores") and support staff, a remarkably high number in view of the fact that the total staff of his Ministry was only 65. The most blatant case was the hiring of his previous chauffeur from Parliament for €2,448 per month (compared with a salary of less than €1,000 per month for most other government drivers) despite already having three Ministry chauffeurs at his disposal. The hiring of Miguel Relvas' lover as an advisor by PM Passos Coelho has also raised questions of nepotism.
Influence Peddling - as a business man, Miguel Relvas has worked for private companies seen as close to his PSD political party and geared towards doing business through high-level political connections in Portugal, Brazil and Africa. His name has come up in connection with the mensalão political financing scandal in Brazil. The Head the Portuguese Order of the Architects claimed in July 2012 that when Miguel Relvas was secretary of state in 2003 he sought to influence the awarding of a public procurement contract in favour of a company where (future Prime-Minister) Pedro Pssos Coelho worked. Miguel Relvas refuted the allegation and said he was initiating a libel lawsuit but, in October 2012, it emerged that indeed Passos Coelho had personally sought to obtain the awarding of such contract for the company he represented - Tecnoforma, with Miguel Relvas' official backing. Moreover, it was also revealed that during Miguel Relvas' term as Secretary of State of Local Administration the large majority of EU financial support for two training programmes in Portugal's central region were chanelled to Tecnoforma but that the intended results never materialised.
Inflating his academic credentials - Miguel Relvas obtained a bachelor’s degree in 2007 and under very unusual circumstances, but prior to that he had been using the unearned academic title of "Dr." It also emerged that when he became a member of the Portuguese Parliament in 1985, he had officially declared that he was a second-year law student, when in fact he had completed just one first-year course prior to dropping out. Faced with the possibility of perjury, Miguel Relvas explained in 2012 that there had been "a lapse" and he had corrected that information latter in the year in a subsequent declaration. In characteristic display of chutzpah, Miguel Relvas announced after obtaing his controversial BA degree that he was going to pursue a masters degree in political science.
Alleged intimidation of the press - Miguel Relvas found himself in a potentially criminal situation when the Publico daily newspaper reported that he attempted to blackmail one of its journalists to not pursue a story on "caso das secretas.” Allegedly, Miguel Relvas had called and threatened the journalist with revealing compromising details of her private life (a likely possibility in view of the precedent that another Público journalist had his calls intercepted by a Freemason associate of Relvas involved in the "caso das secretas." Miguel Relvas admitted calling the journalist but denied making threats. The Press Regulatory Authority ERC launched an official enquiry that found no evidence Miguel Relvas obtained any private informations or pressured the journalist (the majority of the members appointed to that enquiry's commission were from Miguel Relvas PSD party.)
Association to the BPN scandal - the extremely costly bankruptcy of Portugal's BPN bank has involved several former prominent PSD party figures and Miguel Relvas' name has come up in connection with a consultancy job he did in Brazil for Banco Efisa, which was subsequently acquired by BPN, but there is no evidence that, unlike other PSD party figures, he enriched himself with BPN resources. However, questions have been raised by Miguel Relvas' reported Freemasonary allegiance in the same lodge as the lawyer and Freemason Fernando Lima of that allegiance and also happened to be one of the top shareholders of BPN before it went bust.
Denial of responsibility - to date, Miguel Relvas has never acknowledged wrongdoing or impropriety in any of his political, business, or academic endeavours, even when he was compelled to resign as a result of the irregularities in the attribution of his university degree."
