After the controversy began, Health Minister Manuel Pizarro resigned as manager of a health sector company, a government office source confirmed to SIC on Thursday.
The position put Manuel Pizarro in a situation of incompatibility with the positions he now holds in the government, where he replaced Marta Temido as head of the health portfolio.
The same source from the cabinet of the minister also added that the company in question will continue the dissolution process, as Manuel Pizarro announced earlier this week.
“Aware that the exercise of functions as a minister is incompatible with the integration into for-profit legal entities, Manuel Pizarro, managing partner of the company “Manuel Pizarro – Consultadoria, Lda”, began the process of dissolution of the same , process not yet completed because it is necessary to proceed with the sale of an asset of the company,” said the statement from Pizarro’s office sent to editors on Monday.
“Unacceptable,” the PSD said. Enough resigned and BE spoke of “serious political mistake”
The case sparked controversy with the PSD claiming that the health minister “violated the law of the exclusivity regime” as it found it “unacceptable” that he failed to correct the error “immediately”. “(…) It is very strange that the new health minister did not know that he could not accept his appointment to these government positions, because he remained a managing partner of a health company,” said Lusa the social democrat this week. deputy Rui Cristina.
“Admittedly the mistake, it is unacceptable that the situation is not corrected immediately and this is the example of the impunity that the socialist power feels in the country,” accused Rui Cristina on the same occasion.
Chega joined the Constitutional Court (TC) on Tuesday in the case of the health minister, who at the time considered an “absolute incompatibility” that “does not exempt the law” pending the resignation of Manuel Pizarro.
In a press conference at the General Assembly of the Republic, André Ventura ruled that the “taking office requires the removal of paid or unpaid positions in all companies, and that has not happened”, speaking of “absolute incompatibility” that “does not exempt the law” .
“Enough of a complaint filed, a participation, in the Public Prosecution Service with the TC and the TC to continue the usual process of investigation in this type of case leading to the forced resignation, let us say judicial, of the position of Minister of Health said the party chairman.
“The minister came to say that the company is currently being dissolved and that it was not because of a pledge, but the minister had other legal instruments to distance himself from the company,” he defended.
The parliamentary leader of the Left Bloc believed the health minister had committed a “serious political mistake”, but at the time referred the decision on a possible dismissal of the ruler to the Public Prosecution Service and the Constitutional Court.
“The minister has placed himself in a circumstance that shows a huge political error, some arrogance and a swagger that would not be expected from those arriving at a government that has been in office for several years. (…) “, underlined Pedro Filipe Soares.
“As soon as you get the idea that there really is incompatibility, either the public function or the private function ends,” said Marcelo.
The president of the republic, when questioned on the matter on Tuesday, said the incompatibilities with the exercise of government positions should cease once their existence is understood.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa stated at the time that he did not know and did not want to comment specifically on Manuel Pizarro’s case. “In the abstract it is very simple: if one has an incompatibility that is really incompatible – I don’t know if it is true, if not – for the performance of functions that are incompatible with the exercise of a public function, whatever it may be , what should they do immediately, if you haven’t done it before is fix this problem. And there are two ways to solve it: one is to stop performing the public function, the other is to stop performing the private function,” added the head of state.
The President of the Republic admitted that one can take a government position without realizing that there is incompatibility with private activities: “If you have not done that before, as soon as you have the idea that there is really incompatibility, either the public function on , or the private function”.
“If before there was no perception that there was incompatibility, it’s simple: from the moment there is a perception, the consequences are withdrawn,” he emphasized, when asked whether this incompatibility of Manuel Pizarro should not have been in the beginning will be avoided.
with Lusa
Source: DN
