Errors, unbudgeted expenses, illegal payments and revenues at the very margin of the law are part and parcel of the 2015 accounts under Finance Minister Maria Luís Albuquerque in the Passos Coelho government.

The Court of Auditors found material errors in last year’s accounts and has listed its "reservations on the legality, accounting, internal control and financial correction" of the General State Accounts for 2015, noting that there are a number of shortcomings that have been identified in the past, some of them repeatedly, but which remained uncorrected.

Lalanda e Castro, until recently the head of Octapharma and accused of corruption in a plasma supply monopoly to Portugal's health service, has been released by a German judge.

His lawyer says the ex-director of Octapharma, arrested a week ago in Germany, will be in Portugal whenever he is needed and hence there was no reason to keep him in detention prior to his deportation.

More than 3,500 companies have shared awards totaling €461 from the Portugal 2020 scheme. The infrastructure minister announced his intention that support will reach "at least" €1 billion in 2017.

"These investments will allow us to create another 10,000 jobs, when the projects reach cruising speed, and another €2 billion in exports," said Minister Pedro Marques today, full of optimism that his sterling efforts would be widely reported.

For those that continue to imagine that Angola’s dictatorship is benign and that Portugal should continue to trade, while in fact turning an increasingly blind eye to the corruption and state sponsored theft in its former colony, this New York Times video explains some harsh facts.

The dictatorship of José dos Santos has ensured that he and his cronies have amassed wealth beyond the wildest dreams of fantasists, stealing oil and diamond revenues while the country’s poor, especially its children, starve in filth and squalour. 

The head of Portugal’s ambulance service has admitted that the Algarve has suffered a lack of cover due to the closure of its Faro control centre in 2011.

Luís Meira, admitted yesterday that there is a shortage of ambulance staff in the Algarve, but stressed that the ambulance sevice has maintained operability” but only due to the extraordinary efforts exerted by staff in the region.

Bagão Félix, Finance Minister between 2004 and 2005, said that the transfer of the entire Caixa Geral de Depósitos pension fund to the Treasury was an emergency solution made necessary by pressure from Brussels on Portugal to reduce its year end deficit.

"The nationalisation of pension funds had already been carried out in other countries, such as France and Germany," Bagão Félix explained MPs at a parliamentary inquiry committee that has been hearing about recapitalisation plans for Caixa Geral.

A fresh settlement of $1 billion has been agreed between car manufacturer Volkswagen and the US authorities for compensation over the last 80,000 vehicles which were part of VW’s emissions-deceiving scandal.

The US Justice Department also said that a criminal investigation is continuing and charges may yet be filed against the auto giant, a situation which could result in more penalties.

A compensation package has been agreed for the victims of the Banco Espírito Santo rip-off whose were persuaded to move money in guaranteed deposit accounts to high risk investments in Grupo Espírito Santo companies which later failed.

The solution has been presented publicly in a ceremony attended by the Prime Minister, António Costa, who has been insistent that those affected should receive compensation.