“Demands” conclusion of EDP excessive rents case in 20 days
Portugal’s new Attorney General has blasted onto the scene: on the very day his predecessor’s six-year mandate expired (and days before he is formally sworn into office), SIC Notícias reports that Amadeu Guerra is demanding that the EDP excessive rents case, which has been grinding on interminably for 12 years, be concluded in 20 days.
The case has former EDP bosses António Mexia and João Manso Neto as the main defendants, along with former economy minister Manuel Pinho (recently condemned to 10 years jail after being found guilty of corruption).
In June this year, Amadeu Guerra’s predecessor Lucília Gago gave investigators three more months to conclude the case, which has already suffered 23 postponements and time-limit extensions. Investigators recently requested another month’s extension, to which Amadeu Guerra has allowed just 20 days, from the signing of an order (dated October 3).
Thus, an investigation that has seen multiple media ‘exposés’ should be finally brought to a close on October 23.
Guerra’s tenure is expected to see the conclusion of a number of other high-profile investigations seemingly ‘hanging in suspended animation – not least BES (running more than 10 years), Operation Marquês (also running more than 10 years) and Operation Influencer (more recent, but which caused fall of Socialists’ absolute majority government).
