Pedro Nuno Santos says he has no doubts that there is no incompatibility with holding a 0.5% stake in the family business Temacal, following an opinion sought by the Attorney General’s Prime Minister in 2019. about cases of incompatibilities at the time, including his father’s government contracts.
“There was not a single person who said that this opinion did not apply to the case of Pedro Nuno Santos. The problem was solved for me”said the Minister of Infrastructure during a hearing in the Assembly of the Republic.
“After 2019 I took office twice as minister and nobody came to say that that opinion did not apply to my situation”, he added. “The opinion that was valid for my case in 2019, the deputies say it does not hold now,” he added, stressing that after that opinion, he did not feel the need to give up the interest he has in the company.
The official began by thanking him for the opportunity to speak on a “subject that has a much greater impact on us as individuals and people” than the strictly political one, saying that the “symbolic personal participation” he has in the family companies “has been public since forever”.
“There were contracts with public authorities with me outside the government, with me in the government, with the government of the PSD, PS. Temacal is not just another company, it is the largest in the country in industrial equipment in the footwear sector”he continued, assuring that he would not interfere in the management of the company, nor prevent it from contracting with the state.
The minister warns of something in the law that he understands is unusual: “If my father has 100% of the company, he can enter into contracts with the state; if I have 0.5% and my father has 44%, he cannot conclude those same contracts according to some interpretation.”
In recent weeks, the Ministers of Health, Manuel Pizarro, of Territorial Cohesion, Ana Abrunhosa, and of Infrastructure and Housing, Pedro Nuno Santos, and other members of the executive, have been the subject of doubts about the possibility of overcoming the regime of incompatibilities. having violated .in force applicable to holders of public offices.
Source: DN
