Mota-Engil boss pays €6 million to avoid court on fraud charges

eurozonePortugal’s Mota-Engil construction company and its founder have been offered a deal, pay €6 million and the State will drop its charges of ‘qualified tax fraud.’

The offer does not mean that Mota-Engil is innocent of fraud, it is guilty and Operation Furaçao has proved it, but if the €6 million is paid over, fraud charges will be suspended and then dropped after two years.

Ailing Caixa Geral de Depósitos to lose 2,500 staff

caixageralCaixa Geral de Depósitos is the subject of a commission of inquiry which meets tomorrow, July 5, but in an early move to reduce costs, the Government and union leaders already have met and agreed that 2,500 workers will go.

The restructuring plan, under new Caixa Geral boss António Domingues, will see many overseas branches wound up and 2,500 staff retiring or taking early retirement and not being replaced.

'Recessionary upheaval' drives Greek brain drain

airplane2Nearly half a million Greeks have left their homeland in just eight years.

Figures from the country’s central bank reveal that 427,000 economic migrants have gone since 2008.

Silves: former mayor Isabel Soares responsible for 'gross procurement errors'

4852The Court of Auditors finally has reported on Silves council's accounts submitted during the presidency of former mayor Isabel Soares. All is not well.

This report follows an independent audit of Silves accounts commissioned by Mayor Rosa Palma which reported in October 2015 that there had been "gross procurement errors, including work commissioned that should have gone to public tender, work going ahead without the council going through the correct procedures and establishing the bona fides of the contractor and gross overcharging."

Stock market regulator rips into former Portugal Telecom board

zeinalbavaPortugal Telecom’s former board members Zeinal Bava, Henrique Granadeiro, Luís Pacheco de Melo and Amílcar Morais Pires face fines of up to €5 million for lying to the Stock Market Commission (CMVM) and misleading investors.  

The CMVM, led by Carlos Tavares, has been keen to establish who was been responsible since 2012 for dishing out massive loans to the Grupo Espírito Santo (GES) subsidiary Rioforte.

EU sanctions deadline extended yet again for Portugal and Spain

6231Portugal and Spain are to be given another three weeks to correct their budget deficits so as to avoid receiving damaging EC financial penalties and sanctions.

The extension, to be announced on Tuesday June 5th, represents a compromise between Germany's tough stance on sanctions and those country leaders who want some leeway afforded to poorly performing southern European countries.

Hit-and-run driver leaves woman to die near Algarve Shopping

inemA pedestrian walking along the side of the EN125 near Algarve Shopping has been killed in a road traffic incident just after 05.30 on Saturday morning.

The police are keen to trace the driver who failed to stop, having driven into the 41-year-old woman, leaving her severely injured.

Dona Ana beach suffers large rockfall despite €1.8 million in safety work

donaanaThe second sizeable rock fall at an Algarve beach in three days has hit the former jewel in the Algarve's crown, Dona Ana beach in the Lagos area.

Despite €1.8 million spent by the Portuguese Environment Agency, led by 'demolition man' Sebastião Teixeira, the cliffs clearly have remained in a dangerous state.