Former PSD chairman Marques Mendes defended on Tuesday that the Public Prosecution Service should open a criminal investigation into how Banif was sold and asked the prime minister for a public explanation of the Isabel dos Santos case.
The political commentator today presented the book “O Governador”, published by Dom Quixote, the result of a series of interviews by the Observer journalist Luís Rosa to Carlos Costa, who headed the Bank of Portugal between 2010 and 2020, and has caused controversy .
For Marques Mendes, the most serious revelation in the book concerns the Banif resolution of late 2015.
“I really hope that the Public Prosecution Service reads the chapters of the book that deal with Banif, and if they read it, they have no choice but to launch a criminal investigation. It is a typical case of abuse of power and benefiting society .” For much less I have already seen the Public Prosecutor open investigations and appoint defendants,” he said.
Based on the book, Mendes referred that while “a public sale process was underway”, “the government confidentially informed Brussels by letter that the bank was in resolution”.
“Two opposing strategies, one public and the other private. Was it mere coincidence or was it premeditated?” he asked.
The commentator also stated that at the same time there were “entities and people in Brussels, in cooperation with the Ministry of Finance, who openly declared who the buyer of Banif should be, without making any offer”.
“Was it favoritism or was it negligence?” he wondered, given that there are three actors in the story – “two Portuguese and a foreign citizen” – who “owe an explanation to the country”, without giving them an explanation. to call.
As for the most mediatized case, which already earned the prime minister’s announcement that he will charge Carlos Costa, the former PSD president defended that “the political statement” of António Costa is missing.
“Does the Prime Minister consider Isabel dos Santos’ departure from the BIC inconvenient or inconvenient, yes or no? Has he contacted the Governor, yes or no?” expression” is to know “whether or not the Bank of Portugal intervened”.
For Marques Mendes, any infringement of political power in such a matter is “as serious and unlawful as the infringement of political power in a judicial investigation”.
The Prime Minister, António Costa, has already declared that he will sue the former governor of Banco de Portugal for insulting his honor, after Mário Centeno’s predecessor reported in the book that he had been pressured by the head of government not to return Isabel. Pull. dos Santos from BIC.
Source: DN
