The socialist mayor of Matosinhos, Luísa Salgueiros, is accused only of choosing a chief of staff without a contest – a common procedure in these choices, at all levels of the state, starting with the government and ending with the local power? Or is it something else, does this appointment fall under suspicion of influence, in the context of Operation Teia?
To dispel doubts, the Attorney General of the Republic, Lucília Tiago, this Friday “established the establishment of a special investigation procedure” on “the constitution as defendant of the mayor of Matosinhos” (who is also president of the ANMP – National Association of Portuguese Municipalities). The “possible disciplinary relevance of the Public Prosecutor’s Office” will be examined in accordance with the “provisions of Article 264, n.º 2, of the Statute of the Public Prosecutor’s Office”. The relevant article states that “the High Council of the Public Prosecution Service may order the opening of an investigation following a complaint, report or information which does not constitute a manifest breach of the task of the magistrates of the Public Prosecution Service”, and that ” the investigative process is intended to establish the veracity of the entry, complaint or information, and to assess whether the denounced conduct is likely to constitute a disciplinary violation.”
The fact that it was initially reported that Luísa Salgueiro would only be accused of electing her chief of staff without a contest aroused several reactions of surprise, not only in the PS – for example from the National Association of Socialist Mayors – but even in the PSD.
Social Democrat Ribau Esteves, mayor of Aveiro (and vice president of Luísa Salgueiro in the ANMP), said such a process “makes no sense” because the law is clear to allow these nominations without competition, as it about is a position of strict political and personal confidence of those who appoint. “I’ve been mayor for 25 years, I’ve appointed chief of staff, assistants and secretaries seven times and always according to the law. Where is the doubt?” he asks.
Now the question is: could there be something else why the MP appointed Luísa Salgueiro as a defendant?
The truth is that the prosecutor of the Department of Investigations and Criminal Procedure of Porto, which oversees the investigation, “Operação Teia”, believes that Luísa Salgueiro “is suspected on October 27, 2017 in her capacity as mayor of the city Matosinhos Council, abusing its powers and/or violating the duties inherent in their functions, and due to the joint influence of Joaquim Couto, Manuela Couto and José Maria Laranja Pontes (former President of the Porto IPO), and with the intent to confer an advantage, to have appointed in October 2020 Marta Moura Laranja Pontes, daughter of José Maria Laranja Pontes (…) without meeting the legal requirements”.
According to the magazine Saturdayin Operation Teia, in which the former socialist mayor of Santo Tirso Joaquim Couto and his wife, Manuela Couto, are investigating dozens of direct adjustments for “violation of the rules of public procurement” that would have favored Manuela Couto’s companies in obtaining contracts with local authorities and other public institutions, such as the IPO in Porto, underlines the “presumption” that part of the contracts awarded to Manuela Couto’s company by the Portuguese Institute of Oncology in Porto were alleged compensation for the alleged influence of Joaquim Couto on Luísa Salgueiro, so that the daughter of José Maria Laranja Pontes could be appointed chief of staff.
On Wednesday, Luísa Salgueiro, also president of the National Association of Portuguese Municipalities (ANMP), spoke publicly on the subject for the first time. “It is a case that belongs to the courts, but since it has been brought to the public square not by me, but by the media, I must say what I have read about the process: my constitution as an arguida is exclusively on the appointment of my chief of staff”.
As for the presumptions of influence, in his opinion they are “an invention”. “Today the news came out and it could be any other news. When we’re in the field of inventions anything can happen. I can talk about what’s going on and what my chief of staff appointment is,” said the mayor of Matosinhos.
Source: DN
