The Attorney General, Amadeu Guerra, revealed in an interview with the newspaper Nascer do Sol that “the Public Prosecutor’s Office (MP) requested more documents this week” from Prime Minister Luís Montenegro regarding the Spinumviva case.
“The documentation that has been submitted so far has been analyzed, but recent information necessitates requesting more documentation to finalize the assessment of the preventive inquiry. Therefore, the necessary steps will be taken to obtain this documentation, and I hope, and have requested, that we proceed quickly with the analysis of the outstanding documents,” Amadeu Guerra explained.
The preventive inquiry, initiated in March this year due to three anonymous complaints about the Prime Minister’s family business, may result in either the closure of the case or the initiation of a criminal process against Luís Montenegro in the Supreme Court.
The Spinumviva case led to the fall of the first Democratic Alliance (AD) Government, following the rejection of a confidence motion, which forced the country into early elections.
The controversy surrounding the company Spinumviva arose with reports in Correio da Manhã indicating that, among other activities, it engaged in real estate transactions. This information was joined by other reports of companies and assets owned by government members in the real estate sector at a time when the government is revising the land law, potentially impacting the valuation of land and houses.
The reports on Spinumviva’s activities sparked discussion about the Prime Minister’s potential professional involvement alongside governmental functions and the identity of the company’s clients, raising questions about possible conflicts of interest.
Amid the controversy, Luís Montenegro refused to identify the company’s clients, denying any influence on his activities, and insisted that he dissociated from his partnership position in June 2022 by transferring his shares to his wife. This raised questions about the act’s validity, as the matrimonial regime of acquired assets, according to experts, may render the act void.
A report in the newspaper Expresso revealed that the company had a contract worth 4,500 euros per month with the Solverde Group, owners of hotels and casinos. The Solverde Group later announced the termination of the contract with Spinumviva.
Following three complaints received by the Attorney General, the MP initiated a preventive inquiry into the Prime Minister’s family business to determine if there are indications warranting a criminal investigation.
The preventive inquiry was confirmed by the Attorney General on March 12, a day after the fall of Luís Montenegro’s administration, which did not survive the rejection of the government’s confidence motion in Parliament.
In spite of the controversy, on May 18 of this year, the Portuguese people went to the polls and re-elected the AD to govern the country, showing their confidence in Luís Montenegro.
