The inspector of the Tax Administration (AT), Paulo Silva, confirmed this Monday in court the existence of “punctual payments” and “fixed salaries” transferred from the account of the company ES Enterprises to the former Minister of Economy, Manuel Pinho.
At the trial of the EDP case, held this Monday afternoon at the Central Criminal Court of Lisbon, the inspector, who is often involved in some of the largest investigations of economic and financial crimes carried out by the Ministry of Justice (MOJ), explained how the investigation gained access to information about it in fact, returning to the previous processes, namely operations “Marquis” and “Monte Branco”.
According to Paulo Silva, the records of the Tartaruga Foundation, a company registered in Panama whose beneficiary was Manuel Pinho and to which 15 thousand euros were transferred monthly from ES Enterprises, matched the information noted in the Excel file seized by the Swiss authorities (via letters rogatory), in which former administrator Jean-Luc Schneider noted payments.
In addition to the “fixed salary for several years” during which Manuel Pinho was in government (he was Minister of Economy from 2005 to 2009), the tax inspector said that “specific transfers were identified.”
“In the period from 2002 to 2005 there were also timely payments. [a Manuel Pinho]”, added Paulo Silva, continuing: “As for what happened after 2006, you can check the reports of the Tartaruga Foundation… The records that were in the Excel file matched the bank statements. [dessa sociedade]”.
He also highlighted that the one-time transfers were debited from an ES Enterprises account known as the GES “blue bag”.
“I went into Mr. Schneider’s Excel file and saw that there were references to one-off payments: 1.5 million euros in 2004, 400 thousand euros in 2003 and, I think, 300 thousand euros in 2002,” he added. He.
The EDP trial continues on Tuesday at the Justice Campus, with testimony scheduled from former prime ministers Durán Barroso, José Socrates and Pedro Passos Coelho, as well as other witnesses.
Manuel Pinho, under house arrest since December 2021, is accused of passive corruption for unlawful acts, passive corruption, money laundering and tax fraud. His wife Alexandra Pinho is on trial for money laundering and tax fraud – materially co-authored with her husband – and former BES President Ricardo Salgado is liable for active corruption for an unlawful act, active corruption and money. laundering.