The committee of inquiry into Caixa Geral de Depósitos has issued a near-final report that blames the crisis for the bank’s acute problems and does not blame those running the bank for the long list of failed loans, vanished clients and illegal kick-backs.

This is what happens when a committee only has access to those working at the bank rather than being allowed to peruse the actual loan records which have been kept secret - apparently, to reveal them would ‘compromise customer confidentiality.’

Portugal's deputy finance minister today assured non-believers that the sale of loss-making Novo Banco will go ahead in November this year.

The vulture fund, Lone Star, is waiting for the completion of a €500 million debt swap that Ricardo Mourinho Felix said, “will be launched soon.”

Algarve-based adult film producer, Viv Thomas, organised a tournament at Benamor Golf in Tavira on 4 July, at which the players have raised an impressive €18,451 to help those struggling with cancer.

At the end of the ‘ChilliBoy Charity Golf Challenge,’ Mr Thomas handed over the cheque to the Algarve Oncological Association’s president, Maria de Lurdes Santos Pereira.

The Communist Party in the Algarve has questioned the Environment Ministry on the loss of up to 6 million cubic metres of drinking water a year.  

On June 26th this year, a delegation from the Communist Party, including the omnipresent MP, Paulo Sá, visited the Águas do Algarve water treatment plants in Alcantarilha and Tavira.

There have been 16 further arrests in the Air Force food fiddle in which military personnel agreed inflated prices with suppliers to military camps and split the difference.

An estimated €10 million in two years has been skimmed by crooked Air Force personnel and the arrests on Wednesday follow five arrests in November 2016 as Operation Zeus started. (Click HERE for Nov 2016 report.)

The Ministry of the Environment, led by the struggling João Matos Fernandes, fresh from a further round of demolitions on the Ria Formosa islands, is perfectly OK about the building of luxury villas in the ecologically sensitive sand dunes at Galé beach.

The ministry has stated that the projects for the construction of luxury beachside villas of Praia da Galé Oeste is “in accordance with the Burgau-Vilamoura Coastal Development Plan with respect to private land, outside the maritime public domain.”

London based mining company, Savannah Resources, has struck high-grade lithium oxide at the exploratory drilling stage the Mina do Barroso lithium project.

Savannah, valued at around £30 million, now owns 75% of Slipstream Resources Portugal which holds the mining licence for Mina do Barroso in the very north of the country near the Spanish border.

Keen to attract dog-owning voters, Olhão’s mayor, António Pina, has announced the opening of a €69,000 dog exercise and play area in Pinheiros de Marim.

Some 4,000 m2 has been set aside for dogs with a fun play area of 800m2 filled with ramps, tunnels and jumps.