The paper said that after two years, the arbitration court that was set up to hear the case “decided in favour of Elos at the end of June and considered the consortium was due a substantial part of the €169 million it was demanding”.

“The government is shortly to appeal against that decision and it has started a legal case to remove one of the arbitrators who came to the decision”, the paper said, adding that the strategy involves an appeal to the Constitutional Court and an appreciation by the Audit Court”.

In February 2014, the arbitration court was set up to assess the request for compensation presented by Elos, “following the Audit Court refusal sign off the contract for the railway infrastructure between Poceirão-Caia and Evora”.

The Elos consortium, led then by building company Soares da Costa and motroway franchise Brisa, was awarded the construction contract, but it was rejected by the Audit Court at the end of March 2012, leading the centre-right government in power at the time to “definitively” abandon the high-speed project in Portugal.