The Prime Minister expressed the opinion on Monday that the judiciary should think about the publication of investigated facts that are still not sufficiently solid, pointing out that issues he raised in the first conversation with the President of the Republic were raised in the second conversation disappeared.
These views were conveyed by António Costa in statements to CNN/Portugal, at the official residence in São Bento, in response to questions about his involvement in the judicial investigation that led to his resignation from the position of Prime Minister on November 7.
“I think it is normal that if there is a suspicion, that suspicion is investigated. If you ask me whether I think it is normal that the existence of the suspicion is made public without sufficiently thorough investigative acts to determine the fitness of a person, it is something that justice must reflect on itself,” said the Prime Minister.
Regarding his personal situation regarding the investigation in which he is involved and which is taking place at the Supreme Court, António Costa stated that he has an “absolutely clear conscience”.
“I have no doubt what the end of the story is because I know exactly what I did, I know exactly what I didn’t do. I know that I have not benefited from any decision I have made in the past I have taken almost thirty years from political life, no excessive benefit, besides the salary paid to me. And that is why I am waiting quietly,” he said.
In the statements he made to CNN/Portugal, he also spoke generally about the two conversations he had with the Head of State, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, at the Palácio de Belém, the morning he asked for his resignation as Prime Minister . Between these two conversations, the President of the Republic received the Attorney General of the Republic, Lucília Gago.
António Costa started by referring to the first of two conversations with Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.
“At 8:30 am I requested that this conversation take place and at 9:30 am we had this conversation. And it was a very important conversation for me in thinking about what I was going to do. The Prime Minister has a duty to listen to the President of the Republic, including on fundamental decisions,” he said.
In the second conversation, at the end of the morning, according to António Costa, “the issues that were on the table in the first conversation were no reason to do so.”
“Meanwhile, the Attorney General of the Republic issued a statement inserting a final paragraph officially announcing to Portugal, to the world, to the Portuguese that a case had been opened against me. I understand that the dignity of the role, the confidence that the Portuguese have in the role of Prime Minister, is not compatible with the existence of a process whose contours I do not know, and the reason for which I do not know, but it was a process that referred to corruption, malfeasance, influence peddling, in relation to other people, and where it was said that the Prime Minister had been heard, or rather, had not been heard, conversations between third parties referred to the Prime Minister. he pointed out.
At this point the executive leader made another comment: “It does not occur to me that the suspicions were not strong enough for the Attorney General of the Republic to decide to open a case.”
“And they must have been very strong to even have understood that it was their duty to inform the public that they were investigating,” he noted.
António Costa said in a closing style that “whoever does not think this way is not the son of good people”.
“I have been active in public life for many years, almost 30 years. No one has ever questioned my integrity, my honesty, or even whether or not I committed a crime,” he added.
Source: DN
