The Prime Minister, Luís Montenegro, responded on Thursday to reports indicating that five of the seven clients of Spinumviva, mentioned in a new declaration of interests to the Entity for Transparency, benefited from state contracts during his administration.
“The contracts that those companies have with the state do not depend on me, they never depended on me,” he stated to journalists during the celebrations of April 25th and May 1st at the São Bento Palace in Lisbon.
The report, released by Correio da Manhã, disclosed that clients of Montenegro’s family business “have a long-standing relationship with the Portuguese state and have billed over 100 million euros” since the Democratic Alliance (AD) won the 2024 legislative elections.
When asked about the timing of a request from the Entity for Transparency, which revealed new clients of his family company, Spinumviva, Montenegro defended that “all obligations were met.”
“I don’t even agree that the law requires the availability of those elements under the conditions in which they were requested, but I will not enter into that discussion,” he commented. “Regardless of disagreement, I complied.”
“One thing I want to affirm solemnly: The information was published without any intervention on my part, and, in my opinion, it shouldn’t even be public,” he added.
It is noteworthy that Expresso reported on Wednesday afternoon that the Prime Minister submitted a new declaration of interests to the Entity for Transparency, revealing seven new clients of Spinumviva.
The weekly publication, citing various sources, updated the information close to midnight on Monday. In addition to the already known clients of Spinumviva—five in the data protection area (Ferpinta, Rádio Popular, Solverde, CLIP, and Lopes Barata) and a gas station in Braga—seven more companies for which services were rendered were added.
A new declaration was submitted. Joaquim Barros Rodrigues & Filhos was previously the only known client of Spinumviva outside the data protection field.
The companies involved include Rodáreas, the Instituto Técnico de Alimentação Humana, Sogenave, Portugalenses Transportes, Beetsteel, INETUM Portugal, and Grupel SA.
Among the new clients, Rodáreas (Felgueiras-Lousada) and Rodáreas (Viseu) are part of the Joaquim Barros Rodrigues & Filhos Group, a gas station in Braga, owned by the father of the PSD candidate for the Municipal Chamber of Braga, who paid Spinumviva 194,000 euros plus VAT for a two-year service. Montenegro stated that he performed consultancy on business restructuring and strategic planning for these companies.
For Portugalenses Transportes from Vila Nova de Gaia, he claimed to have worked on “management consultancy and planning” services, while for Beetsteel of Braga, he reported providing “business management consultancy”. For the remaining clients, he rendered data protection services.
