Details of the contract between state controlled Parvalorem and Christie's covering the forthcoming auction in London of 85 Miró works have not been disclosed "because the auction house does not want any such details revealed. If the Government does reveal the deal then Christie’s may ask for compensation."
This is the official excuse from the Treasury Secretary, Isabel Castelo Branco, as she addressed circling opposition MPs in Parliament today who long have wanted a glimpse of the contract to check the taxpayer will be getting the maximum benefit from the controversial sale.
It was the first time that Isabel Castelo Branco has been called to speak about the sale of the Miró collection which passed into the hands of the state when the insolvent bank BPN was bailed out by unwitting taxpayers.
When confronted today by MPs about the secrecy surrounding the contract with the auctioneer, the Secretary of State defended herself by mentioning the confidentiality clause, conveniently slipped to her by the president of Parvalorem.
"We asked Christie's, which did not authorise the release of the contract," said Castelo Branco, who ominiously announced that, "if we publicly disclose the contract we may be subject to payment of compensation."
The MPs reminded the civil servant that elected members of Portugal’s government are entitled by law to have access to such documents. "The Government can not sign a clause that prevents Parliament seeing the contract," said a Communist MP, adding that, "with or without permission of Christie's, we have a duty to know what the government is doing. What is happening here is that the government is hiding this deal."
However, Isabel Castelo Branco skirted this trap by claiming that "the government has not signed any contract. The Government oversees companies (such as Parvalorem which legally owns the works) but are not party to these contracts," explaining that although these companies are public, they are governed by civil law and "have contractual freedom."
Socialist MP Inês de Medeiros followed up with a blinder, stating “Christie's wants confidentiality which is natural, but the desire of Christie's can not override Portuguese law," noting that Parvalorem is a public company. "There is confusion, because if this so, then the State can no longer control Refer or RTP. This opens a very serious precedent."
Isabel Castelo Branco was not having a good day as it then was pointed out that the Christie's contract has yet to be passed by the Court of Auditors and Parvalorem is subject to any ruling by this body. The contract is now being considered by the Court. Parvalorem failed to submit the contract for inspection before it was signed, so currently the deal is not settled and suspicions swirl around the Assembly that the deal is yet another dodgy one-sided one, and certainly is unlikely to be in the taxpayers' benefit.
Faced with this correct legal summary, Isabel Castelo Branco muttered that if the Court wants access to the contract, it can have it, and then revealed that this top secret contract does not involve any expense for Parvalorem, only revenue, "as commissions are paid by the buyers and all other costs are assumed by Christie's."
What the opposition are after is the contract detail as Portugal’s governments have had the nasty habit of compensating the other party when things do not go well – think motorway tolls and the drop in revenue that the taxpayer is obliged to fund.
If Christie's has been commissioned to sell the paintings directly should the items being auctioned fail to reach their reserves - the agreement that the opposition is trying so hard to unearth - the government is due to receive €35 million. This is way below the €82.5 million value that the collection was held at by the bank and significantly below the private €50 million bid put forward by Angolan millionaire Rui Costa Reis.
This has all the hallmarks of another poor deal for Portuguese taxpayers who already have been offered €50 million in an unstable market.
