Fernando Medina announced yesterday that he had asked the Attorney General’s Office (PGR) to be heard in the context of the trial aimed at the Lisbon City Council when he presided over the autarchy and that he headed the judicial police last Tuesday to find in the town hall.
At stake, according to TVI/CNN, are “suspicions of corruption, economic participation in business and counterfeiting”.centered on a service contracted in 2015 by the Lisbon City Council to historical socialist Joaquim Morão.
Fernando Medina says he is “absolutely” unaware of the ongoing investigation and guarantees he has never been contacted for clarification, in this or any other matter involving the municipality he led between April 2015 and October 2021. “I am not aware of any ongoing investigation, I have never been heard from”I have never been asked to clarify in any court case between the various ones that have been made public, especially the one that has now been reported,” said the finance minister. Medina, at a press conference, assumed that it was his choice to Joaquim Morão to integrate a team to coordinate the municipal works in the city of Lisbon (which also included an engineer from the office of the then mayor of the municipality, and another engineer from the urban planning department), a contract concluded by “direct adaptation to the historical socialist who presided over the councils of Idanha-a-Nova and Castelo Branco. In defense of this choice, Medina claimed that he was “one of the most prestigious mayors in the country”, who “did a good job” in Lisbon. Morão, in a note to Lusa, he said he was satisfied that he had committed “none of the unlawful acts reported by the media”.
Also yesterday, in a statement, the Attorney General’s Office informed the Lusa Bureau that the case that led to the searches in the Urban Planning Division of the Lisbon Chamber last Tuesday “has no established suspects” and is subject to to confidentiality. .
According to TVI/CNN news, the OM believes it is dealing with a case of “raising money in public works, with bribes from contractors, for the unauthorized financing of the PS, through the so-called blue bags”. . A suspicion that Medina said he saw with “bewilderment” and that also led to a denial by the PS. “The PS categorically rejects the allegations of financing outside the strict legal framework”, the party said in a statement, assuring that donations to the PS “are registered and identified in the official accounts of the party, presented to the Entity of Accounts and Political Funding”. A position repeated in the Assembly of the Republic by the parliamentary leader, Eurico Brilhante Dias. The PS/Lisbon also responded, stating that it was “completely calm and sure of the legality of all contracts and procedures”.
Marcelo holds Medina
Already under the eyes of the opposition, due to the case of former Finance Secretary Alexandra Reis, who eventually resigned from the government after the half-million-euro compensation she received from TAP became known, Medina is once again in power at the center of a controversial case, and this time with a judicial investigation. When asked whether he has any conditions to remain in office, the Minister of Finance answers in the affirmative. “I have the conditions my conscience gives me, from someone who has more than two decades of public service,” guaranteeing that he always acted “in defense of the public interest.” AND rejected being weakened in the performance of his duties.
The PSD disagrees. And he came to defend that, through the voice of the parliamentary leader, Joaquim Miranda Sarmento Medina “does not have the political authority to be finance minister” and to “manage public money”, as he “never knows anything”, neither as a member of the government nor from his previous positions as mayor.
But the president of the republic came yesterday to “detain” Medina, underlining that from an investigation to its conclusions and consequences “goes a long way”.
“The fact that there is an investigation, proceeding or inquiry into anyone is precisely that point. There must be many people with public responsibilities at the different levels that are the subject of this research. Hence, the conclusion that the research comes to a conclusion and that this conclusion can provoke a certain kind of attitude is a long way,” said Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa. There is nothing illegal or incorrect or irregular, period, paragraph.”
CML creates anti-corruption department
The searches of the premises of the Chamber of Lisbon were confirmed by the current president, Carlos Moedas, who promised full cooperation with the judiciary and announced that “this month” he will propose the creation of an anti-corruption department in the municipality: “It is the first time we do it. It is extremely important that all processes within the city council are completely transparent.”
Source: DN
