Former Economy Minister Manuel Pinho, accused this Monday of passive corruption in the EDP/CMEC process, said that “the entire process was officially scrutinized by the European Commission” and that he did not need “anyone’s help” to teach at foreign universities .
In a reaction sent to Lusa to the accusation released this Monday by the Public Prosecutor’s Office in the EDP/CMEC case (Contractual Equilibrium Maintenance Costs), Manuel Pinho began by declining to comment because until now his lawyer had not been notified of the accusation.
“The entire process (of defining the CMEC and extending the water domain in relation to dams) was officially scrutinized by the European Commission and (…) I did not need or need anyone’s help to teach in seven foreign universities, three of which out of the 20 best in the world”, the former ruler ended up adding, highlighting that the process was also “the subject of an in-depth investigation” by European bodies.
According to the Public Ministry’s indictment released this Monday, Manuel Pinho was accused of passive corruption in this process.
Former EDP directors António Mexia and João Manso Neto were accused of active corruption.
A source linked to the process told Lusa that João Conceição, director of REN and former consultant to the former minister, advisor Rui Cartaxo and former director-general of Energy Miguel Barreto were also accused of passive corruption.
The note from the Attorney General’s Office (PGR) on the complaint states that the complaint was filed against six defendants, without identifying them or specifying the corresponding crimes.
“Two defendants were accused of committing the crime of active corruption for the illicit act of a political office holder and four defendants of the crime of passive corruption, also for an illicit act, of a political office holder”, the statement reads.
Also according to the PGR, “one of the accused, at the time Minister of Economy (Manuel Pinho), supported the appointment of another accused as executive president of EDP (António Mexia) and unduly favored that company, through compensation”.
“The other defendants joined the agreement, which they both made for this purpose, and also implemented it through counterparts. The Public Prosecutor’s Office understands that the State suffered losses in excess of R$840 million, which is why it requested the confiscation of the defendants’ assets and EDP Gestão de Produção de Energia and EDP SA in favor of the State, in an amount corresponding to this value”, adds the PGR.
The Public Ministry also says that some of the facts that led the former director general of Energy and Geology Miguel Barreto to be investigated, “related to the Home Energy business, were archived due to lack of proof of the practice of a crime of corruption”.
The PGR recalls that the facts investigated in this process “occurred between 2006 and 2014 and, in short, are related to the transition from Energy Acquisition Contracts (CAE) to Contractual Equilibrium Maintenance Costs (CMEC), notably with the overvaluation of CMEC values, as well as with the delivery of the Alqueva and Pedrógão dams to Eletricidade de Portugal (EDP) without a public tender and with EDP paying for a former minister to go to Columbia University to teach”.
The accusation marks an end to an investigation opened in 2012 related to the Costs of Maintaining Contractual Equilibrium (CMEC) by EDP. This process also ended up leading in December 2022 to the indictment of former minister Manuel Pinho, his wife Alexandra Pinho, and former banker Ricardo Salgado for facts unrelated to this situation.
The investigation was then separated, continuing until now the investigation that essentially targeted former EDP administrators António Mexia and João Manso Neto, who as a result of this case had to abandon their roles at the electricity company.
Source: www.jornaldenegocios.pt
