The Prime Minister, Luís Montenegro, has refused to show the documents that prove the specific work of the company Spinumviva, which had been requested by the Entity of Transparency. Instead, he chose to appeal to the Constitutional Court (TC).
The request by the Entity of Transparency was made at the end of April, around the same time the Prime Minister was required to update the customer list of the company in his income and asset declaration.
While Luís Montenegro disclosed the family company’s customer list on the night of April 29, the same did not happen with the documents concerning services provided by Spinumviva.
The appeal was filed in June by Luís Montenegro and has yet to be reviewed. In response to questions from the same newspaper, the Constitutional Court stated that the appeal is being processed according to applicable legal terms and is not expected to be reviewed before the end of the judicial holidays.
Recalling the confidential nature of the appeal, the TC indicated that it is not possible to foresee, at this stage, the direction of the decision.
When questioned by Correio da Manhã on the same subject, the Prime Minister’s office chose not to respond.
Who are the Spinumviva clients now known?
It should be noted that when the Prime Minister submitted a new declaration of interests to the Entity of Transparency, he revealed seven new clients of Spinumviva.
Besides the previously known clients in the data protection area—Ferpinta, Rádio Popular, Solverde, CLIP, and Lopes Barata—and the gasoline company in Braga, seven additional companies for which services were provided were disclosed.
Among the new clients are Rodáreas (Felgueiras-Lousada) and Rodáreas (Viseu), both companies of the Joaquim Barros Rodrigues & Filhos Group. The gasoline company in Braga, owned by the father of the PSD candidate for the Braga Municipal Chamber, paid Spinumviva 194 thousand euros plus VAT for two years of service. Montenegro states that he provided consultancy for company restructuring and strategic planning for these companies.
For Portugalenses Transportes in Vila Nova de Gaia, he claims to have offered “management and planning consultancy” services, while for Beetsteel in Braga, he provided “business management consultancy.” For the remaining clients, he provided data protection services.
Meanwhile, in May, the Public Ministry (MP) also requested additional information from Luís Montenegro regarding Spinumviva, within the scope of preventive investigations related to the company.
“The preventive investigations are underway, with the Public Ministry awaiting responses to these requests,” added the Attorney General’s Office. The two preventive investigations are being conducted by the Central Department of Investigation and Penal Action (DCIAP).
Recall that the case related to Spinumviva led the government to present a motion of confidence, which was rejected in the Assembly of the Republic, causing early elections held on May 18.
