During a hearing in the Economy and Territorial Cohesion Committee, requested by the PSD, the former governor of the Bank of Portugal (BdP) stated he had no involvement or political oversight in the Efacec process, clarifying that the decision was taken after he was no longer the Minister of Finance.
When questioned about the legality of public guarantees provided by Banco de Fomento to Efacec, he responded, “If it is illegal, from a supervisory standpoint, these situations are corrected, mechanisms exist for that, and perhaps that’s why many of the strategies for reprivatizing Efacec didn’t work, because those instruments weren’t legal.”
The former governor was also questioned about statements by Henrique Cruz, former president of Norgarante, who mentioned in a parliamentary hearing that BdP had requested silence about the company’s exposure to Efacec. He remarked that the supposed request “transcends” him, he did not make it, and it seems strange it would originate from the supervisor’s technicians. “I don’t even know in what context the silence request was made, I can’t contextualize it,” he said.
Regarding the reasons for Efacec’s nationalization, the former official contextualized this decision within the pandemic period, noting that in light of the company’s difficulties, the option was to replace the shareholder during tough decision-making times in the pandemic.
Centeno highlighted that he had “very few” moments of intervention in this process, primarily involving dialogue with banks, which were creditors. “The banks were not willing to intervene at that moment,” he recalled.
The former minister also pointed out that the problem with Efacec “arose before the pandemic, linked to the ‘Luanda Leaks’,” and the difficulties compounded those the company already had.
He expressed confidence in the government’s assessment, assuring “it wasn’t a decision made lightly.”
Regarding the strategic significance of the company, he stated, “The State must assume, at least generically, that there might be a tangible net benefit not linked to other strategic considerations,” such as “the importance to Portuguese engineering, the economic climate around Porto city, and Portuguese engineering’s presence worldwide.”
Centeno further indicated the Bank of Portugal did not intervene at any point in this process as a supervisor and had no access to additional information.
The former governor reminisced about another situation related to ‘Luanda Leaks’ and Isabel dos Santos, namely Eurobic, as a successful case from which lessons should be drawn for future interventions.
Eurobic had “significant oversight by BdP” and had to “change owners in a scenario perhaps unparalleled in Portugal,” he recalled, achieving it “without any public intervention, at no cost to anyone,” highlighting it as a “success story amid exogenous shocks to political activity in Portugal, serving as a learning point for future interventions.”
Efacec was nationalized following the ‘Luanda Leaks’ process, which led to Isabel dos Santos exiting the company’s capital.
The group remained under majority public ownership for almost three years in a criticized process involving state capital injections into Efacec.
