Chega announced this Monday that it will propose the formation of a possible parliamentary commission on the prime minister’s alleged meddling in banking and wants former Banco de Portugal governor Carlos Costa to be heard first.
“Chega decided to exceptionally resort to a mechanism to which it is entitled under the terms of the regulations, namely the establishment of a parliamentary commission, if any” to “investigate and prevent government interference in the banking and financial system” said Chega’s leader in statements to journalists in the Assembly of the Republic.
André Ventura indicated that this final commission “will be proposed by Chega” and will have “four main objectives”..
“Analyze the allegations of abuse of interference in the banking sector in recent years, review legislation on financial regulation and its autonomy, specialist hearings, with current and former governors and vice-governors of Banco de Portugal, namely Carlos Costa , to know , in a parliamentary seat, the complaints, denunciations and what he said in his book about interference by this or any other Prime Minister and propose new investigations, either to the prosecution or to parliament”noted.
André Ventura also indicated that Chega will propose that the first hearing will be that of former Banco de Portugal governor Carlos Costa.
Chega’s leader also criticized the PSD’s stance, accusing the party led by Luís Montenegro of “political inertia” for indicating that it will “give a second chance” to the Prime Minister, António Costa, to answer any questions the social democrats asked him about the case of the Angolan businesswoman Isabel dos Santos and the process of dissolving and selling Banif, and not moving on to a parliamentary committee of inquiry.
“We gave the PSD all the conditions to go down this path, to take on this role. They chose not to, to give the PS a second, third and fourth chance, even when it was clear that the socialist government did not want that.” react to everything and use all mechanisms to avoid his responsibility, so we decided not to wait any longer,” he criticized.
According to the Rules of Procedure of the Assembly of the Republic, parliamentary committees may be established “for any specific purpose”, responsible for “valuing the matters governed by their constitutions, submitting the respective reports within the limits set by the parliament deadlines”.
“The initiative to set up occasional parliamentary committees, other than those of inquiry, can be exercised by a minimum of 10 deputies or by a parliamentary group,” it also notes.
Chega had already proposed creating a parliamentary commission of inquiry to assess “the Prime Minister’s possible political interference” in the former governor of Banco de Portugal “for the protection of the daughter of the president of Angola”, but the proposal was rejected in mid-December with favorable votes from the submitting party and IL, abstentions from PSD and PAN and votes against from PS, PCP, BE and Livre.
Source: DN
