Ventura Presses Montenegro on Spinumviva Probe, Accusing Deliberate Delay

Portugal’s political news cycle has been dominated for months by a single, unresolved question: will the Spinumviva affair translate into criminal charges against Prime-Minister Luís Montenegro, or fade away as just another partisan skirmish? Opposition leader André Ventura is betting on the first outcome, arguing that the government is deliberately slowing the process. The embattled premier insists the facts are on his side and that prosecutors will eventually shut the matter down. As the back-and-forth escalates, ordinary voters are left wondering how a modest family consultancy morphed into the most explosive controversy of the year.

Why the standoff matters for Portugal now

The country is still digesting the political shockwaves that toppled the previous cabinet earlier this year. Any hint of fresh wrongdoing at the top of government risks reviving memories of José Sócrates, “Tutiss” or more recently Operation Influencer. With household budgets squeezed by stubborn inflation and the public health system under strain, many citizens view the Spinumviva saga less as palace intrigue and more as a litmus test of accountability, transparency and equal treatment before the courts. If the matter drags on into 2026, it could further erode faith in the justice system, unsettle financial markets already nervous about the next State Budget, and complicate Portugal’s negotiations in Brussels over new Recovery Plan disbursements.

How a family firm became a political headache

Created in 2021 in the coastal town of Espinho, Spinumviva Consultoria started life as a vehicle for the Montenegro family’s holdings. The name itself is a playful nod to the fishmongers once heard shouting “É de Espinho, viva!”. What looked like a benign side project quickly raised eyebrows when investigative reporters discovered the start-up had landed consultancy work with Solverde casinos, a concessionary dependent on state licences. Payments of €4 500 per month allegedly continued even after Montenegro moved into the São Bento palace. Critics also point to the purchase of two Lisbon flats for €715 000, a jump in fiscal benefits worth 72 % year-on-year, and an awkward attempt to shift company shares to the prime-minister’s wife despite the couple’s community-of-property marriage regime. Every element, on its own, might look trivial; together they paint a potential picture of conflict of interests, abuse of power and illicit advantage.

André Ventura’s latest salvo

Sensing an opening, the fiery leader of Chega grabbed the microphone again this week. He accuses Montenegro of “arrastar a situação” – dragging his feet – by withholding documents and relying on procedural manoeuvres to keep the file in limbo. Ventura says that such tactics deny the country closure and create the impression that the politically well-connected enjoy slower-moving justice. He has already forced parliamentary debates, tabled a no-confidence motion and claims the prime-minister is using the early delivery of the Orçamento do Estado as a smokescreen. “We cannot have a head of government suspected of fraude fiscal, recebimento indevido de vantagem and procuradoria ilícita lecturing the nation on moral standards,” he told reporters outside the São Bento gates.

Montenegro’s counteroffensive

The prime-minister, visibly irritated, maintains he has handed over every file requested by the Ministério Público and will do so again if needed. He brands the headlines a “pouca vergonha” and frames the leak of preliminary findings as an assault on due process. According to aides, Montenegro’s legal team has already volunteered bank statements, real-estate deeds and consultancy contracts to show that “not one cent came from corrupt sources”. He argues that the Spinumviva contracts never crossed his governmental desk, that the firm owns no property whatsoever, and that all revenue was duly taxed. Privately, PSD strategists fear that even an acquittal could arrive too late to repair the damage if the narrative of privileged treatment hardens in the public mind.

Legal track: what prosecutors are actually doing

Inside the Procuradoria-Geral da República, the case is still classified as an averiguação preventiva – the Portuguese equivalent of an exploratory probe with no formal defendant. The team has requested supplementary paperwork from at least five Spinumviva clients and is analysing cross-border transfers flagged by the Bank of Portugal’s anti-money-laundering unit. Only after all files are in will prosecutors decide whether to open an inquérito-crime, a step that would transform the prime-minister into an official suspect. Sources familiar with the docket say the office sees “no legal obstacle” to summoning a sitting PM if the evidence warrants it, citing the precedent of Pedro Passos Coelho’s Tecnoforma testimony a decade ago. For now, uncertainties remain over the valuation of consultancy services and the provenance of funds used to refurbish the Lisbon apartments.

Economic and political fallout

Markets have so far taken the turmoil in stride, but the spread on Portuguese 10-year bonds has widened by a modest 15 basis points since headlines about a possible criminal inquiry surfaced. Business associations worry that prolonged instability could delay public-works tenders tied to the €20 B NextGenerationEU envelope, while foreign investors hate nothing more than regulatory surprises. Within Parliament, the minority coalition is under palpable strain: the Liberal Initiative wants tougher disclosure rules; the Socialists eye fresh elections; regional parties from Madeira and the Azores warn that mainland scandals should not hijack their funding negotiations. In cafés from Guimarães to the Algarve, voters voice a simpler concern: “If this were any other citizen,” they ask, “would the case still be pending?”

What happens next

Three milestones will decide the affair’s trajectory. First, prosecutors expect the last batch of banking records by mid-November; that cache will either justify closing the file or launching a full probe. Second, Parliament must vote on the 2026 budget before year-end; a hostile amendment could oblige Montenegro to call yet another election. Third, the Constitutional Court is reviewing a draft statute that would tighten asset-declaration rules for public office-holders, directly shaped by the Spinumviva debate. Whether the case ends in indictment, dismissal or mere political attrition, its legacy is already clear: the boundaries between private enterprise and public duty in Portugal are now under a microscope, and neither future prime ministers nor small family firms will escape that scrutiny again.