A Portuguese-registered minibus collided with a truck in Salamanca on Sunday. It was transporting a group of family and friends who worked in France and were heading back to Portugal.
The driver of the minibus, Renato Resende, 28, from Leiria, died and the seven occupants from Leiria and Peniche were injured.
The Luxembourg insolvency trustees of the Espírito Santo Group’s property offshoot, Rioforte, have appealed to Portugal’s Public Prosecutor to unblock the company’s asset, the Herdade da Comporta real estate fund.
The fund was released for sale to Ardma Imobiliária last year but was withdrawn when the buyer, businessman Pedro de Almeida, was found to have been dealing directly with Espírito Santo family members close to the deal and had compromised himself.
From a country of only 10.5 million people, Portugal’s government managed to extract more than €42 billion in taxes last year, nearly €2 billion more than in 2016.
According to figures published by the Directorate General of the Budget (DGO), direct taxes such as income tax and the tax on company profits, totalled €18.33 billion, up half a billion on 2016.
The Left Bloc formally has asked the Government if it is aware of the allegations that TAP Chairman, Miguel Frasquilho, has been in receipt of suspicious payments arranged by Grupo Espírito Santo through the undeclared offshore company, ES Enterprises. (HERE)
Frasquilho wants to have his Chairmanship of TAP renewed at the end of the month, so the MPs want to know if the government is happy that his past financial probity is beyond reproach.
The dredger salvage operation off Armona has been suspended due to unsettled sea conditions but is expected to resume in a week’s time.
Olhão port captain, Nunes Ferreira, said the contractor has had a few problems and already has ruined two large floatation balloons during attempts to right the capsized vessel.
The Intellectual Property Tribunal in Lisbon will determine whether or not an inventor has been ripped-off by the government.
Manuel Londreira claims the State copied his fiscal control system for receipts and launched it as the ‘e-factura’ programme.
The Social Democratic Party opposition party has accused Minister of the Environment, João Pedro Matos Fernandes, of doing nothing to stop the pollution in the Tagus river, the latest instance of which was reported yesterday, (HERE).
The PSD proposed further investment in environmental monitoring but said that its petition had been rejected by the socialist government which had claimed that the existing control measures "were sufficient."
Since the Golden Visa scheme was launched in 2012, €3.5 billion has been spent in Portugal by non-EU residents as part of the qualification criteria.
A total of 5,553 residence permits have been granted to immigrants to Portugal, not that Golden Visa holders have to live here, yet the official number of foreigners entering the country is estimated by the government to be three times this figure as qualifying family members join the principal applicant.
