Agradecemos ao nosso amigo e atento leitor Cidadão Abt a chamada de atenção para a gralha que trocou Tomar por Tomas. No melhor blog cai a nódoa, neste caso no Por Abrantes.

Desmentimos que queiramos fazer concorrência ao nosso estimado concorrente Pico do Zêzere, porta-voz oficioso do carrilhismo neste Concelho, em matéria de erros ortográficos.

Foi um acidente.

Agradecemos ainda ao Miguel Abrantes socialista (ao Dr.Miguel Abrantes, esse vagabundo, não temos de agradecer nada, porque em vez de estar de opa como os bons católicos a participar em procissões está a ver miúdas em top-less

Tridente & Arpão: ainda diz Louçã que não houve contrapartidas

Spiegel Online:

‘Corruption Investigation: Germany's Ferrostaal Suspected of Organizing Bribes for Other Firms

(…)

The current internal corruption scandal at Ferrostaal revolves around the delivery of two Type 209 submarines to Portugal. Ferrostaal, which had bid against submarine builder HDW and shipbuilder Thyssen Nordseewerke, won the €880 million contract in November 2003 -- with the help of bribes and a number of phony consulting contracts.

According to the investigators' files, a Portuguese honorary consul approached one of the Ferrostaal board members in 1999. The man allegedly said that he could be helpful in the initiation of the submarine deal. According to the files, the honorary diplomat demonstrated his influence by setting up a direct meeting in the summer of 2002 with then Prime Minister José Manuel Barroso.

The Ferrostaal executives in Essen were apparently so impressed that they signed a consulting agreement with the honorary consul in January 2003, in return for his "constructive assistance." Under the agreement, the Portuguese diplomat was to be paid 0.3 percent of the total contract volume if the deal went through.

The consul ended up collecting roughly €1.6 million, which the investigators see as a clear violation of his duties as a diplomat.

But it appears that Ferrostaal did not rely solely on its advisor's good connections to bring about the submarine deal. It is believed that a consulting agreement was concluded between Ferrostaal and a partner, on the one hand, and a rear admiral in the Portuguese navy, on the other. The deal, most recently, was worth €1 million.

A Portuguese law firm is also believed to have played a role in ensuring that that the contract was awarded to Ferrostaal, and that plenty of bribe money was paid in return.

Prosecutors have already identified more than a dozen suspicious brokerage and consulting agreements related to the submarine deal. According to the investigation files, all of these agreements were designed "to obfuscate the money trails," so as to pass on payments "to decision-makers in the Portuguese government, ministries or navy."

It appears that, in the end, Ferrostaal paid so many consulting fees that not much was left in the form of profits from the submarine deal.’