Galpgate – the name given to the politically embarrassing situation that saw MPs of various hues flown free of charge to football games courtesy of Galp (energy giant) during the Euro 2016 championships – is on track for ‘closure’ with what looks like a mish-mash of fines.
Explain reports, “most penalised” will be the two Galp entities ‘Galp Energia SGPS’ and ‘Galp Energia SA’.
Both have been given the option of paying out €50,000 in order for the case ‘not to go to court’, writes Correio da Manhã.
“The remaining ‘arguidos’ (official suspects, almost all of them political figures) will be paying quantities that vary between €10,000 and €600”, says the paper.
“The payments have to be made in the next six months so that the cases, stalled in the instruction phase for several months, can be archived”.
Among those ‘accused’ of the crime of ‘receipt of undue advantage’ – which potentially could carry a jail sentence – are former secretaries of state Fernando Rocha and Jorge Oliveira, as well as a former advisor to prime minister António Costa Vítor Escária.
Former secretary of state for internationalisation João Vasconcelos was also cited, but died tragically of a heart attack last year (click here), thus the case against him has already been archived.
Explains CM, PSD leadership candidate Luís Montenegro is also ‘under suspicion’ as he too is understood to have received freebie travel from Galp, as are “other MPs” – but their case is still in the ‘inquiry stage’.
When ‘Galpgate’ hit the headlines, President Marcelo opined that “everything that allows suspicion of the relationship between economic power and political power is not good”.
PM Costa however suggested at the outset that Galpgate was more a storm in a teacup, and that all those involved had already ‘paid’ for their journeys retroactively by way of clearing the slate (click here).
