Lisbon, March 21, 2025 (Lusa) - The minister for the presidency, António Leitão Amaro, on Friday asked the PS leader to retract his insinuations that Spinumviva, which belonged to the prime minister, was a front company.

"We are already at that stage where, after weeks of insinuations" against the prime minister, these suspicions “have been and are being dismantled one by one and shown to be false”, so “it is beginning to be time for these political leaders to retract the insinuations and suspicions they have launched”, Leitão Amaro told journalists on the sidelines of the conference “Family, Immigration and Discrimination”, organised by the National Confederation of Family Associations (CNAF).

"Today we know that the prime minister's word was true and that the insinuations made by the leader of the Socialist Party were false," he added, recalling that “a report has come to light that demonstrates fully and definitively that the leader of the opposition was untruthful in the insinuations he made when he said that the prime minister had had a front company with no activity,” in a reference to the work of the newspaper Observador, which details the existence of regular work by the company, in particular for the Solverde hotel and casino group.

"In this serious report by a media organisation with access to documentation, it was shown that this was a company and a real company, with real activity, with real employees, providing services that are not particularly expensive for the market," said Leitão Amaro.

The political crisis began in February with the publication of a story in Correio da Manhã about Luís Montenegro's family business, Spinumviva. At the time, it was owned by his children and his wife—to whom he is married in the community of acquisitions—and has since passed to their children. This raised doubts about compliance with the regime of incompatibilities and impediments for holders of public and political office.

After more than two weeks of news - including Expresso's report that Solverde was paying Spinumviva a monthly fee of €4,500 - two motions of censure against the government, by Chega and the PCP, both of which were rejected, and the PS's announcement that it would present a commission of inquiry, the political crisis ended with the fall of the government, after a motion of confidence was rejected.

Leitão Amaro said today that the company's agreement with Solverde did not prevent the current government from acting against the group's interests. The group has been arguing in court over the amount to be paid during the pandemic.

"I took a decision last September" to "change the state's lawyers and take an appeal decision" after "the state, by decisions of the Socialist Party, was ordered to pay around €18 million to Solverde", he explained.

"In this government, we are all independent, and the prime minister sets that example. He is independent of any vested interests," assured Leitão Amaro, considering that “all the insinuations made one by one” about Luís Montenegro's suitability have disappeared.

The minister for the presidency insisted that "those who have made and cast unfounded suspicions should realise and retract the serious accusations and insinuations they have made".

"Today we know that the prime minister's word was true and that the insinuations of the Socialist Party opposition leader were false, but the prime minister, in the first debate on the motion of censure, said what the services were, the type of work provided and described the type of clients," he added.

PJA/ADB // ADB.

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