Luís Montenegro, chairman of the PSD, accused the PS on Monday of “trying to influence the course of justice again” over the prime minister’s statements about the judicial investigation that led to his resignation. Moreover, the Social Democratic leader admitted that he wants the case of the Brazilian twins to be clarified and that he admits that he made it possible for the son of the President of the Republic to be heard in parliament.
“I especially think it is a shame that the PS is once again trying to influence the judicial process, even against a principle that has been proclaimed so often.”criticized the Social Democratic leader in statements on the sidelines of a visit to Beja airport.
But the PSD is not focused on the past but on the future, Montenegro said: “Today we are not looking at what happened on November 7. Today we look at what will happen on March 10,” the date of the parliamentary elections.
During this trip to the airport of the city of Alentejo, at the beginning of the route of the program “Sentir Portugal” through the district of Beja, which runs until Wednesday, Luís Montenegro was questioned by journalists about statements made by the Prime Minister, António Costa, who today were published by CNN /Portugal.
In his statements at the official residence of 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, António Costa believed that justice must reflect on the publicity of actions examined, still without sufficient firmness.
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”.
In his statements, the Prime Minister also referred to the statement of the Public Prosecution Service (PGR) on this case. Costa stated that the Attorney General of the Republic, Lucília Gago, “grafted a final paragraph in which she officially announced, to Portugal, to the world, to the Portuguese, that a case had been opened” about her.
According to the PSD president, on March 10, when the parliamentary elections are held, “a political change will take place” in the country and his party will “open a new cycle” on which it is “concentrated”.
“The ‘crocodile tears’ of Dr. António Costa, Dr. Pedro Nuno Santos and Dr. José Luís Carneiro do not hinder the path of the PSD,” he countered.
When asked what he would do in the face of a statement with the same content if he were Prime Minister, the Social Democratic leader argued that “he would prevent the statement from coming out, because of course he would not do anything that could motivate it.”
“But this is an existential problem for Dr. António Costa that I am not going to get involved in,” he added simply.
PSD wants clarification in the double case
The chairman of the PSD said on Monday that the party will not block a possible proposal from the Liberal Initiative (IL) for a parliamentary hearing of the son of the President of the Republic on the twins’ case, which needs to be clarified.
“As the proposal [de audição parlamentar de Nuno Rebelo de Sousa] is presented, we will not oppose it,” assumed the leader of the PSD, Luís Montenegro.
Speaking to journalists at Beja Airport, at the start of his tour of this Alentejo district until Wednesday, as part of the ‘Sentir Portugal’ program, Montenegro argued that “the essential” in this case of the twins “is that the country no doubt that the rules were all followed”.
“And the rules here are at different levels. It is the rules of intervention by people with political responsibility that may have determined the course and analysis of the situation and we can also conclude that there was no advantage here for the people who had access to treatment at the expense of others who could have had it get,” he explained.
Asked by journalists about the position of the President of the Republic (PR), Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, regarding this case and whether or not the Head of State has been weakened as a result, the Social Democratic leader stressed the need to clarify the subject.
The country “deserves to be reassured that everything went normally and that no one was harmed by a foreign intervention,” he declared.
“Once we have all the elements to complete this, the case will be closed. Until, of course, it happens that we are all interested in dispelling doubts,” he underlined, emphasizing: “I think the situation must be absolute. clarified”.
The President of the Republic “has already said what he understood” on this issue, “but it is normal that democratic instruments can deepen other lines of assessment,” he said.
“Namely to fulfill everyone’s responsibility to contribute to finding out whether something abnormal actually happened or not,” Luís Montenegro added.
On Sunday, the president of the Liberal Initiative announced today that he will request a parliamentary hearing for the son of the President of the Republic Nuno Rebelo de Sousa on the twins’ case and said he hopes that the PS “will not block these clarifications ” again.
Speaking to Lusa, Rui Rocha recalled that the PS this week blocked requests for a hearing from former governors Marta Temido and Lacerda Sales, “in a case that has been going on for weeks and in which there are conflicting versions.”
The case concerns two twin children living in Brazil who have since acquired Portuguese nationality and came to Portugal in 2019 to receive the drug Zolgensma against spinal muscular atrophy, for a total amount of four million euros. TVI announced in November that denounced the alleged interference of the President of the Republic.
Last week, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa confirmed that his son had contacted him about the situation of the Portuguese-Brazilian twins who later received the drug at Santa Maria Hospital and argued that the treatment he gave to this case was neutral and similar to that of so many others.
Source: DN
