The new president of State/owned bank, Caixa Geral de Depósitos, has exempted himself from the rules that apply to high ranking employees of State/owned companies and will not submit an income and assets statement to show his affairs are in order and all taxes due have been paid.
This unique exemption is covering the entire board of directors at Caixa Geral who not only have been awarded private sector salaries but now are being treated as private sector, not public sector employees.
This has enraged Left Bloc leader Catarina Martins who said today, "You can’t head up a public bank and not comply with the transparency rules. There is no reason for those who manage this public bank to have lower obligations of transparency,"
"It's not for those who run the bank, but the State which determines the conditions for those who are in charge," said Catarina Martins on national TV today.
Catarina Martins already is annoyed that Domingues and his new board are being paid "millionaire wages" rather than showing “wage restraint and responsibility” and now is even more irritated that they will not have to submit income statements.
The new president of Caixa Geral already has taken legal advice to support his non-submission of tax returns and has handed a ‘declaration of incompatibility’ to the Finance Inspectorate.
"It is incomprehensible that António Domingues does not have to show his earnings,” said Martin adding that there now is a potential for conflicts of interest. “The only thing that protects democracy, public interest and public money are good rules," insisted the Left Bloc leader.
Catarina Martins, and she is not alone, has little good to say about the way in which the new board has been mollycoddled, "It is known we disagree with how the government has managed the whole process so far. There is nothing new in this.”
Domingues also was under fire in the press today for authorising a McKinsey consultancy report on Caixa Geral before he had even been appointed.
The €3 million bill will be picked up by Caixa Geral which is in no financial position to incur this sort of expenditure, in fact the bank needs refinancing after years of corruption and embezzlement with the taxpayer primed to step in with €5 billion next year to bail out the insolvent State lender.
If the new 'hot-shot' board of directors need a €3 million report to show what is wrong with Caixa Geral, the public could be excused for wondering what exactly are the highly-paid skills that these directors are bringing to the table.
