PSD Vice-President Paulo Rangel defended this Saturday that the slippage of the cost of works on the former Military Hospital of Belém requires “immediate clarification” from Minister João Cravinho and the Prime Minister, who he said must “take responsibilities”.
“Revelations of yesterday [sexta-feira] in the weekly Expresso demand an immediate and thorough clarification from the Foreign Minister and former Defense Minister, João Cravinho, and the Prime Minister,” Paulo Rangel said at a press conference at PSD headquarters in Porto.
Arguing that the “degradation and dissolution” of the political environment is “increasingly intense”, Paulo Rangel stated that “respect” for the armed forces “requires an immediate clarification” about the derailment of the cost of the works of the former Military Hospital of Belém, about which Minister João Cravinho was informed in March 2020, according to the newspaper Expresso.
Among the clarifications, Paulo Rangel said it is important for the PSD to understand why the minister “hid his knowledge of the profession” and what “led him to approve the derailment of the works”.
The newspaper Expresso reported on Friday that former defense minister and current foreign minister João Cravinho was told in March 2020 that the cost of works on the former military hospital of Belém was skyrocketing.
According to the newspaper, citing a letter from March 2020, while the works are already underway, the Director General of National Defense Resources (DGRDN), Alberto Coelho, – today charged with corruption and money laundering in Operation Perfect Storm – reported the minister about “additional work” that has already yielded almost an extra million euros.
Asked whether the PSD would demand the resignation of Minister João Cravinho, the Social Democrat said it is up to Prime Minister António Costa to “make that judgement” and “take on responsibilities”.
“The Secretary of State, because of this scandal in the Defense of which he was aware, and the Minister of Finance, because of the question of Alexandra Reis’ compensation and now for all questions related to the situation of her mandate in the “They are very politically conditioned. They are politically vulnerable, but it is for the Prime Minister to assess what conditions he thinks two fundamental ministers of his government should keep,” he said.
Paulo Rangel stressed that for the PSD Minister João Cravinho “is wounded”, and rejected the possibility that the PSD “will be tempted, as some fall for it, to shift the responsibilities onto others”.
“It must be the government that assumes it has failed,” he added, saying that while “the economic and social situation of the Portuguese is deteriorating,” the government is “managing its credibility and survival”. “[O Governo] is licking its own wounds,” he said.
Attack on Pedro Nuno Santos
Paulo Rangel also criticized former Infrastructure Minister Pedro Nuno Santos, who was “after all aware of Alexandra Reis’ compensation”.
“But amazingly, he had forgotten that he knew and that he authorized it, as if such a decision did not need to be discussed with his secretary of state and chief of staff, who also knew it. Nothing was talked about, discussed, everything evaporated in a message from Whastapp meanwhile rediscovered and resurrected,” he said.
Former Infrastructure and Housing Minister Pedro Nuno Santos confirmed on Friday that he has given “political approval” for Alexandra Reis’ departure from TAP, adding that he has been advised “of the final value of the agreement” between the parties.
In a public statement, Pedro Nuno Santos explained that since his resignation on December 28, he has reconstructed the controversial departure of the Portuguese airline’s former finance minister Alexandra Reis, which led to her resignation. from the government, and admitted that he knew that the compensation paid was 500 thousand euros.
The Social Democrat’s criticism also extended to Finance Minister Fernando Medina, who, he said, “returned to his usual political mantra” that “he knows nothing, he knows nothing, he is east of everything that happened during his tenure happens”. public had to occupy it”.
“The PSD is not satisfied with this state of progressive decay of the government and of the institutions over which the government presides. Never has Hamlet’s phrase made more sense than today: ‘there is something rotten in the Kingdom of Denmark’, and the prime minister must answer for that.”
Source: DN
