Armando António Martins Vara (born 27 March 1954,

Vinhais Vinhais (; cel-x-proto, Veniatia) is a municipality in the district of Bragança, northern Portugal. The population in 2011 was 9,066, in an area of 694.76 km2. The present mayor is Américo Afonso Pereira, elected by the Socialist Party. T ...

) is a

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

politician and

bank A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets. Because ...

ing administrator. He enrolled in

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

, at the

New University of Lisbon NOVA University Lisbon ( pt, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, ), or just NOVA, is a Portuguese public university whose rectorate is located in Campolide, Lisbon. Founded in 1973, it is the newest of the public universities in the Portuguese capital ...

, leaving the institution without being awarded a degree. Throughout his life he was an employee at the state-owned bank

Caixa Geral de Depósitos Caixa Geral de Depósitos (CGD) () is a Portuguese state-owned banking corporation, and the largest bank in Portugal, established in Lisbon in 1876. CGD now has presence in 23 countries spanning four continents through branches, representative ...

where he worked in several different positions ranging from

clerk A clerk is a white-collar worker who conducts general office tasks, or a worker who performs similar sales-related tasks in a retail environment. The responsibilities of clerical workers commonly include record keeping, filing, staffing service ...

(it was his first job) to administrator (appointed in 2005, three days after had been awarded a degree in

international relations International relations (IR), sometimes referred to as international studies and international affairs, is the scientific study of interactions between sovereign states. In a broader sense, it concerns all activities between states—such as ...

by the

Independente University Independente University (in Portuguese ''Universidade Independente'' or UnI for short) was a private university, headquartered in Lisbon, Portugal, founded in 1993 by Luís Arouca, Rui Verde and Amadeu Lima Carvalho; it was owned by SIDES (''Socie ...

), and was member of parliament to the Portuguese

Assembleia da República The Assembly of the Republic (Portuguese: ''Assembleia da República'', ), commonly referred to as simply Parliament (Portuguese: ''Parlamento''), is the unicameral parliament of Portugal. According to the Constitution of Portugal, the parliament ...

for several years. In addition, Vara is a former Secretary of State, Minister of Home Affairs, and Minister of Youth and Sports in the

Portuguese Government , border = Central , image = , caption = , date = , state = Portuguese Republic , address = Official Residence of the Prime MinisterEstrela, Lisbon , appointed = President o ...

, always by the Socialists. In January 2008, he was appointed vice-chairman of

Millennium bcp Portuguese Commercial Bank ( pt, Banco Comercial Português, BCP) is a Portuguese bank that was founded in 1985 and is the largest private bank in the country. BCP is a member of the Euronext 100 stock index and its current chief executive officer ...

bank. In October 2009 it was reported that Vara is an ''

arguido ''Arguido'' (male, ) or ''arguida'' (female, ), normally translated "named suspect" or "formal suspect", is a status in Portuguese type legal systems, including those of Portugal, Angola and Mozambique. It is given to a person whom the authoriti ...

'' (formal suspect) in the '' Face Oculta'' scandal.Face Oculta
RTP, October 31, 2009 Armando Vara was sentenced to five years imprisonment on 5 September 2014. He was again placed in custody on 9 July 2015, as part of the "Operação Marquês" operation, aimed at former Prime Minister

José Sócrates José Sócrates Carvalho Pinto de Sousa, GCIH (born 6 September 1957), commonly known as José Sócrates (), is a Portuguese politician who was the prime minister of Portugal from 12 March 2005 to 21 June 2011. For the second half of 2007, he ...

. His detention followed the searches conducted at his home, in various companies, and a bank. José Sócrates was suspected of having favored a tourism business through a government plan, Vara at the time was director of the General Deposits, entity that financed that enterprise.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vara, Armando 1954 births People from Vinhais Living people Socialist Party (Portugal) politicians Government ministers of Portugal Portuguese politicians convicted of crimes Politicians convicted of corruption Portuguese prisoners and detainees