The unwelcome spectre of disgraced politician Miguel Relvas has appeared in the miasma surrounding the sale process for Novo Banco.
The former minister is one of the shareholders of Pivot SGPS, which appeared alongside the UK based Aethel Partners which has put in a last minute offer for the loss-making bank.
Pivot bought Efisa bank under highly suspicious circumstances, a deal that still is waiting for authorisation from the European Central Bank CB.
Miguel Relvas holds 31.7% of Pivot, which now is in partnership with Aethel in the race to purchase Novo Banco.
The former minister who served himself under the Passos Coelho government owned 25% of Pivot which bought Efisa in 2015, a bank that came from the corrupt cess-pit of Banco Português de Negócios.
BPN has to be nationalised by the government in 2008 after inept management allowed malpractice-related debt of €1.8 billion to be run up. Several 'irregularities' were uncovered in the institution that the public had just paid for and in 2011, BPN, stripped of many of its debts and bad loans, was sold to Angola’s Banco BIC for just €40 million.
This purchase of Efisa, in part by Relvas, is waiting for the green light from the European Central Bank which, in conjunction with the Bank of Portugal, has not yet “validated the suitability of the company and its shareholders,” - "nor should it!" cry those involved in legitimate financial services.
Relvas bought shares that belonged to António Bernardo, a consultant to Roland Berger, and Mário Palhares, from the International Business Bank and former deputy governor of the National Bank of Angola.
The same people sold shares to Ricardo Santos Silva, formerly of Banco Eapírito Santo Investments, and Aba Schubert who each had 31% of the holding company. These two are now Aethel Partners.
Pivot somehow ‘won’ the tender sale of Efisa in 2015 for just €38 million, a figure lower than the €77.5 million that the Portuguese taxpayer had just been forced to stump up by the Treasury.
Aethel Partners submitted a letter of intent to the government last week, expressing its willingness to buy Novo Banco in a deal said to be worth up to €4 billion, far ahead of the US Lone Star offer but with Relvas now revealed, the Socialist government will be looking at ways legally to thwart this latest offer while at the same time working out how it can explain to the public why it rejected a €4 billion bid.
The Bank of Portugal already has stared spreading the news that Aethel Partners can not bid on its own as it needs to be linked to one of the approved bidders for Novo Banco. Also, that Lone Star is in exclusive negotiations with the Bank of Portugal and the Resolution Fund, so any outside bids are not acceptable.
The Bank of Portugal’s governor, Carlos Costa, has just been caught out ignoring advice from his own team that Ricardo Silva was no longer a fit and proper person to run Banco Espírito Santo, yet did nothing.
He now faces political pressure to get rid of the Aethel bid in a legal manner. The thought of Miguel Relvas being involved in Novo Banco’s future is one too terrible for any socialist government to contemplate for long.
Miguel Relvas:
Relvas is perhaps best known for having obtained a university degree without stooping so low as to take classes or exams, which led to his resignation in disgrace from his ministerial position in February 2013.
IA summary of the sort of dealing Relvas has been involved in to date would seem to preclude him from any position of political or financial responsiblity.
Wikipedia has a good review of the more salient points that have cropped up during Relvas' business and political life -
"Miguel Relvas' high-flying career has been stained by a pattern of taking personal advantage of political office without apparently breaking the law. Known instances include:
Pocketing and abusing of official allowances - as a MP, Miguel Relvas was one of several Portuguese parliamentarians to have pocketed out-of-town housing allowances despite living in Lisbon, and airfare allowances for trips not made or made in lower classes of service than entitled. As president of the municipal assembly of Tomar, he claimed for €30,000 in phone calls on his official phone paid for by the municipality.
Cronyism - on becoming Minister of Parliamentary Affairs in 2011, Miguel Relvas appointed for himself and his four Secretaries of State a total of 56 advisors ("assessores") and support staff, a remarkably high number in view of the fact that the total staff of his Ministry was only 65. The most blatant case was the hiring of his previous chauffeur from Parliament for €2,448 per month (compared with a salary of less than €1,000 per month for most other government drivers) despite already having three Ministry chauffeurs at his disposal. The hiring of Miguel Relvas' lover as an advisor by PM Passos Coelho has also raised questions of nepotism.
Influence Peddling - as a business man, Miguel Relvas has worked for private companies seen as close to his PSD political party and geared towards doing business through high-level political connections in Portugal, Brazil and Africa. His name has come up in connection with the mensalão political financing scandal in Brazil. The Head the Portuguese Order of the Architects claimed in July 2012 that when Miguel Relvas was secretary of state in 2003 he sought to influence the awarding of a public procurement contract in favour of a company where (future Prime-Minister) Pedro Pssos Coelho worked. Miguel Relvas refuted the allegation and said he was initiating a libel lawsuit but, in October 2012, it emerged that indeed Passos Coelho had personally sought to obtain the awarding of such contract for the company he represented - Tecnoforma, with Miguel Relvas' official backing. Moreover, it was also revealed that during Miguel Relvas' term as Secretary of State of Local Administration the large majority of EU financial support for two training programmes in Portugal's central region were chanelled to Tecnoforma but that the intended results never materialised.
Inflating his academic credentials - Miguel Relvas obtained a bachelor’s degree in 2007 and under very unusual circumstances, but prior to that he had been using the unearned academic title of "Dr." It also emerged that when he became a member of the Portuguese Parliament in 1985, he had officially declared that he was a second-year law student, when in fact he had completed just one first-year course prior to dropping out. Faced with the possibility of perjury, Miguel Relvas explained in 2012 that there had been "a lapse" and he had corrected that information latter in the year in a subsequent declaration. In characteristic display of chutzpah, Miguel Relvas announced after obtaing his controversial BA degree that he was going to pursue a masters degree in political science.
Alleged intimidation of the press - Miguel Relvas found himself in a potentially criminal situation when the Publico daily newspaper reported that he attempted to blackmail one of its journalists to not pursue a story on "caso das secretas.” Allegedly, Miguel Relvas had called and threatened the journalist with revealing compromising details of her private life (a likely possibility in view of the precedent that another Público journalist had his calls intercepted by a Freemason associate of Relvas involved in the "caso das secretas." Miguel Relvas admitted calling the journalist but denied making threats. The Press Regulatory Authority ERC launched an official enquiry that found no evidence Miguel Relvas obtained any private informations or pressured the journalist (the majority of the members appointed to that enquiry's commission were from Miguel Relvas PSD party.)
Association to the BPN scandal - the extremely costly bankruptcy of Portugal's BPN bank has involved several former prominent PSD party figures and Miguel Relvas' name has come up in connection with a consultancy job he did in Brazil for Banco Efisa, which was subsequently acquired by BPN, but there is no evidence that, unlike other PSD party figures, he enriched himself with BPN resources. However, questions have been raised by Miguel Relvas' reported Freemasonary allegiance in the same lodge as the lawyer and Freemason Fernando Lima of that allegiance and also happened to be one of the top shareholders of BPN before it went bust.
Denial of responsibility - to date, Miguel Relvas has never acknowledged wrongdoing or impropriety in any of his political, business, or academic endeavours, even when he was compelled to resign as a result of the irregularities in the attribution of his university degree."
Comments
Tecnoforma is a classic example of a missed opportunity to investigate heavyweight political figures and the sources of their funds. Even though it had been suspect for many years; its finances over the years were usefully obscured in off-shore investments, computer glitches and missing accounts. Yet no-one in authority even now has sufficiently clean hands themselves to be able to make a fuss about anything. Parliamentary Enquiries and Committees repeatedly turn into parodies of those in developed countries.