Vieira will quit to defuse $50m row
Former Macau governor General Vasco Rocha Vieira will quit as president of the Portuguese foundation embroiled in the controversial transfer of $50 million from Macau but will stay on as a board member, Radio Macau reported yesterday.
The news followed General Vieira's scathing attack on Macau Chief Executive Edmund Ho Hau-wah, claiming the latter had 'exact knowledge' of the funds and accusing him of having 'broken a commitment' to publicly support the Jorge Alvares Foundation.
Radio Macau is owned and run by the Government.
The transfer was made from the public Macau Co-operation and Development Foundation to the Jorge Alvares Foundation at General Vieira's instruction just before the December handover.
In an article in the Portuguese weekly newspaper Expresso in Lisbon on Saturday, the ex-governor said the foundation no longer made any sense to him.
Board members will meet tomorrow to discuss its future and whether the $50 million should be returned.
'One possibility is just to scrap it and return all the money to Macau. Another possibility is to elect a new president and keep all the money in Lisbon,' the source said. 'The ex-governor said in his article that the foundation made no sense to him anymore, so how could he then continue to be one of its trustees?' Mr Ho said on Saturday he would 'gladly receive' the $50 million if the foundation decided to return it. He has said in the past the transfer fell 'in a grey area of the law'. The foundation was set up to promote ties between Macau and Portugal.
