The new Secretary of State for the Environment, Hugo Pires, will have sold his company to a garbage lobby, Nascer do Sol reports Friday. At the time of sale, he signed an opinion in the Assembly of the Republic on municipal waste.
The newspaper writes that in 2021 the former vice-president of the PS group sold his architecture and urban regeneration studio (CRIAT) to an agricultural company owned by sisters Lucinda and Adelaide Gomes Marques, who are sisters and partners of the majority. shareholders of the group Semural, Waste & Energy SA, of which Lucinda is the manager.
The group in question is committed to the import of waste and hazardous waste, and is involved in controversial landfills, such as the one in Valongo, which are contested by the population because of the stench.
The news from Novo Sol also mentions that Hugo Pires is known for his real estate company, which came under fire when he joined the working group for the Basic Housing Act.
Speaking to the publication, the minister said he had “nothing to report” and that there is no conflict of interest for the Ministry of the Environment. Duarte Cordeiro’s office, responsible for the Environment portfolio, said the new secretary of state currently has no interest in companies.
The government, meanwhile, reacted to the news from Novo Sol and a statement from the Ministry of Environment and Climate Action emphasizes that Hugo Pires’ company was not in the field of environment, but in “architecture and construction”, after being sold on May 19, 2021, “a time when, of course, I did not foresee that I would be invited to the position of Secretary of State for the Environment in 2023”.
Currently, the government continues, “it has no share in any company” nor “any impediment or impediment of any kind to the exercise of the functions entrusted to it”.
“With regard to his activity as a deputy, he participated in the work of the Environment and Energy Commission of the Assembly of the Republic, an important experience for the tasks that he will now carry out,” said António Costa’s executive. Hugo Pires “fulfilled his declarative duties as deputy,” the statement said.
The news about Hugo Pires comes a day after the resignation of Carla Alves, 26 hours after taking office as Secretary of State for Agriculture. The resignation follows the news that joint accounts with her husband, former mayor Américo Pereira, are being arrested.
“The Secretary of State for Agriculture, Carla Alves, handed in her resignation this afternoon because she understood she did not have the political and personal conditions to take office. The resignation was “accepted immediately”.
Shortly before the resignation of Carla Alves, the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, publicly stated that the case politically weakened the Secretary of State and the government. “It’s a negative political weight,” Marcelo said.
News updated at 10:17
Source: DN
