LISBON: Portugal’s Finance Ministry on Monday flatly denied reports that Eurogroup President and Lisbon’s current Finance Minister plans to resign after he was named as a “person of interest” in an ongoing corruption investigation. The reports are false, the finance minister has private talks with the prime minister every day. No resignation has been discussed in this context,” a source with knowledge of the case who requested that their identity not be revealed, told New Europe on Monday. After Portuguese Police searched office in an attempt to find evidence that linked him to a scheme that provided tax advantages to a real-estate company owned by family members of the president of Lisbon football club Benfica. According to what the Ministry’s source told New Europe, Centeno has had private talks with Portuguese Prime Minister but at no time has his resignation been discussed. Finance ministry officials in Lisbon have denied that Centeno was even associated with the ongoing investigation, pointing out that the question of a municipal property tax is handled by Lisbon’s City Hall without the input of the central government.
Central bank destroys 8,923 counterfeit banknotes
Banco de Portugal (BoP) withdrew 8,923 counterfeit banknotes from circulation in the second half of the year, 1,496 more than...