Partner tried to transfer money three days after PJ searches that toppled PSD government
Following weeks in which the corruption case that brought down the PSD government of Madeira seemed to have gone quiet, new ‘scandal’ appears to be airing in the tabloids.
The regional archipelago is now little more than a month away from legislative elections (prompted by the government ‘collapse’).
Ceasing president Miguel Albuquerque is known to fancy his party’s chances at re-election, meaning he could effectively once again be appointed regional governor.
But Mr Albuquerque is already ‘suspected’ of corruption, and an ‘arguido’ (official suspect) since January.
Unlike Portugal’s former prime minister António Costa (who threw in the towel on the basis of his name being tentatively linked to suspicions of ‘facilitating business), Miguel Albuquerque was loathe to tender his resignation, saying he wouldn’t do so simply on the basis of suspicions.
He eventually did – but then there was an apparent ‘about turn’ where he decided to pick up where he had left off.
Today’s splash in Correio da Manhã – repeated by other papers – is unlikely to win him extra votes: it suggests that three days after the PJ searches that essentially set off a political earthquake on the regional archipelago, Mr Albuquerque’s partner tried to move €170,000 from one of her bank accounts.
“The bank communicated the operation to judicial authorities, under the terms of prevention of money laundering, and the money was frozen”, says the paper.
“Sofia Fernandes runs the company responsible for handling the AL (holiday lettings) of a luxury villa that Albuquerque owns beside the sea in the parish of Ponta Delgada, in the borough of São Vicente (northern Madeira).
“The attempt by the partner of the ceasing president of the regional government, and leader of PSD Madeira, to move such an elevated sum at a moment so close to the PJ searches reinforced suspicions that Miguel Albuquerque could have been using people close to him to hide illicit benefits while he was a politician in Madeira”, CM continues.
Mr Albuquerque is already being investigated in an inquiry separate from the main inquiry into public contracts celebrated between his government and the business groups of Avelinho Farinha and Custódio Correia. One of the business deals under investigation is the purchase in 2020 of a formerly ‘old building’ for €120,000, and its subsequent construction into a luxury villa that has been valued at around €1.5 million, says the paper.
The villa is the one that has been rented out by Sofia Fernandes, through a company involving Miguel Albuquerque’s two children, since March 2022 – a year in which the rental company posted losses of €21,000.
Says CM: “The freezing of that quantity of money in Sofia Fernandes’ account is also an indication that the investigation into Albuquerque could cover the personal assets of his partner”.
Investigators will now be trying to establish whether Mr Albuquerque “has concealed in Sofia Fernandes’ personal sphere any assets that may have been improperly received in the exercise of his political functions”.
CM’s splash has not stopped there. It has also run a side story today on how Sara Albuquerque, the daughter of the ‘ceasing governor’, has been receiving €1,467 a month for the last five years from a company controlled by a local businessman who founded a social solidarity institute in Madeira that “receives millions of euros from the regional government”.
Sara Albuquerque has, says the paper, been living in Sweden for “almost three decades”.
In a whirl, the endless column inches the country has become used to elaborating on suspicions of corruption within PS Socialist circles have suddenly flipped to the PSD (the party now ‘in power’ on the mainland), at a really crucial time for Madeira: regional PS Socialists are finally seeing that their moment to seize political control might finally be arriving.
Madeira has been run by PSD social democrats since Portugal became a republic.
natasha.donn@portugalresident.com
