Lisbon, Aug. 11, 2026 (Lusa) - Portugal's defence minister has announced that he will take legal action against the leader of the far-right Chega Party, André Ventura, MP Pedro Frazão and the newspaper 24Horas over statements and a news report concerning the purchase of three frigates from Italy.
In a statement released on Monday, the Ministry of Defence accuses the two Chega leaders of having crossed «all boundaries of political debate», maintaining that «they deliberately lied, misrepresented facts and made statements that seriously damaged the good name, honour and reputation» of the ministry.
«In view of the above, we hereby announce that the defence minister has decided to take legal action against 24Horas, the leader of Chega, André Ventura, and the MP from the same party, Pedro Frazão,» the statement reads.
At issue is a news article published on Friday by the online newspaper 24Horas concerning the purchase of three frigates from the Italian manufacturer Fincantieri for €3.9 billion, in which it is stated that the alleged exclusion of the Portuguese company NTG – which was to act as an intermediary in the deal – led to a loss of €90 million in commissions for that company.
Following this report, Chega shared a video on its social media channels of André Ventura calling for an investigation into the whereabouts of «tens of millions» of euros which, he said, should have been used to pay commissions.
«Let the defence budget in this deal – and in future ones – not be an open invitation to corruption; and we recall many other deals: from submarines onwards. And we do not want this to happen again,» he is also heard saying in the same video.
MP Pedro Frazão, in a video posted on social media, reacted to the news by referring to «yet another scandal» involving the Government and a deal associated with «serious doubts regarding honesty and integrity».
«It seems that when these AD [Democratic Alliance coalition] governments hand the Ministry of Defence over to the CDS Party, it is essentially for more backroom deals,» he stated.
In its statement, the Ministry of Defence rejects the assumptions made in the 24Horas report, maintaining that this process is taking place between the Portuguese and Italian states, «not with companies», and that «no Portuguese company has ever, even for a single day, participated in the procurement process involving the Portuguese and Italian states».
«The selection of equipment under the SAFE programme was the responsibility of a team comprising members of the EMGFA, the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, the Directorate-General for National Defence Policy, the Directorate-General for Armaments and National Defence Assets, the General Secretariat for National Defence and IDD Portugal Defense. In this selection, which was based on technical and operational grounds, members of the government played no part», the same statement reads.
The ministry highlights as statements of «the utmost gravity» the remarks made by members of Chega regarding «yet another scandal», «companies being sidelined», «commissions», «backroom deals» and «suspicions that money has been channelled to be transferred or mobilised in some other way».
«In a normal, decent country, institutions, people and politicians should not be forced to live in a lawless quagmire, nor to accept relationships devoid of ethics or values, which undermine the dignity of others and offend them, as well as their good name, in violation of the law and the Constitution,» it adds.
Portugal is set to acquire three new-generation Italian-built frigates, in an investment of around €3.9 billion, Prime Minister Luís Montenegro announced in July following a meeting in Rome with his Italian counterpart, Giorgia Meloni.
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