Parliament on Friday rejected the parliamentary commission of inquiry proposed by Chega to assess “the prime minister’s possible political interference” in the former governor of Banco de Portugal “in order to protect the daughter of the president of Angola”.
The inquiry had favorable votes from the proposing party and IL, abstentions from PSD and PAN and votes against from PS, PCP, BE and Livre🇧🇷
Chega proposed a double objective for this parliamentary committee of inquiry.
On the one hand, “Assessment of possible political interference” by António Costa on the former Governor of Banco de Portugal, Carlos Costa, “as regards the position of businesswoman Isabel dos Santos at BIC Português SA, in order to ascertain whether there has been an abuse of power by the leader of the government to protect objectives or interests beyond the stability of the Portuguese financial market”.
Secondly, the party wanted parliament to assess “whether the Banif resolution process was subject to undue interference on the part of the government, either in the respective negotiation and information process with the European institutions, or in the choice of the financial company who would acquire Banief”.
In the explanatory memorandum, Chega assumes that the reason for this investigation is the revelations in the book “o Governador” by Observer journalist Luís Rosa about Carlos Costa’s mandates between 2010 and 2020, in which Mário’s predecessor Centeno accuses the Prime Minister of political interference in Banco de Portugal.
At stake, according to the former governor, in a version disputed by the Prime Minister, is a call from António Costa on April 12, 2016 in which the Prime Minister allegedly told him that “you are the daughter of the President of a country friend of Portugal”, which he took as a request to the Bank of Portugal not to remove Angolan businesswoman Isabel dos Santos (daughter of the then President of Angola José Eduardo dos Santos) from BIC’s board.
The Prime Minister has accused Carlos Costa of making “false and abusive” statements on several occasions and has already announced that he will charge the former governor of Banco de Portugal with violations of his honour.
For Chega, the alleged phone call, as well as a written message sent by António Costa to Carlos Costa following the initial news of the book, are “indicators of unacceptable interference by political power” in the central bank.
“Serious doubts and suspicions are also expressed in the said book on the Banif resolution process, both in terms of the information passed by the government of the Republic to European bodies, and in the manner in which the ‘rescue process’ of the banking institution was carried out.”, the party also refers, saying that “there appears to be sufficient evidence of political interference” and that “possible crimes of abuse of power or even subterfuge” may be at stake.
Source: DN
