This Thursday, the PSD asked the prime minister 14 more questions about the alleged interference in Banco de Portugal in favor of Angolan businesswoman Isabel dos Santos, as this will be the “last chance” to clarify the matter.
Speaking to journalists in the Assembly of the Republic, the Social Democratic parliamentary leader recalled that last November, the PSD submitted 12 questions to the Prime Minister about “possible interference” in “the eligibility process that the Bank of Portugal has not granted to engineer Isabel dos Santos” and also in the sale and settlement of Banif.
Joaquim Miranda Sarmento announced that “the PSD has just presented 14 new questions on these two cases”.
“We hope that this time the Prime Minister can provide direct answers to each of these questionsso that this is the last chance for the Prime Minister to clarify his role, either in the interference he may have had with the Bank of Portugal so that it would grant the eligibility to engineer Isabel dos Santos, or in the sales process and resolution from Banif,” he said.
The Social Democratic parliamentary leader criticized António Costa for “instead of answering all the PSD’s questions” he had “sent a relatively vague and laconic text that left much to answer, and which raised new questions”.
Of the 14 questions, Miranda Sarmento emphasized that the PSD, “with regard to the question of the suitability of engineer Isabel dos Santos, wants to understand the reason for the Prime Minister’s intervention, how he was so quickly informed of the meeting between the then governor of Banco de Portugal” and the businesswoman, and the “why this process is related to the BPI issue”.
“As far as Banif is concerned, understand the government’s intervention, the rationale for the letter sent to the European Commission and the European Central Bank on December 14, and understand whether the government, by its actions or inactions, will fail to comply with the bank’s resolution. has accelerated, at a significant cost to the taxpayer,” the Social Democratic deputy added.
When asked whether the PSD admits to getting through to a committee of inquiry on this subject, the party chairman indicates that the party first wants to evaluate the prime minister’s answers.
“After receiving the Prime Minister’s answers to these 14 questions, we will consider this issue,” he replied, indicating that the party is keeping “all parliamentary tools” at its disposal.
In the document released by the party, the PSD insists on some of the questions already raised at the end of last year and raises new ones.
PSD questions addressed to the Prime Minister
The Social Democrats ask the Prime Minister “what were the reasons for sending a message to the Governor of Banco de Portugal on November 15, 2022″ following the news that revealed the contact made in April 2016, stating that At the time, he called it inconvenient that Banco de Portugal was trying to remove Isabel dos Santos from EuroBic’s management, while the solution for her departure from BPI was being prepared”, pointing to setbacks in the answers given by António Costa in January.
“Since the Bank of Portugal has not changed its decision and Isabel dos Santos is no longer a shareholder of BPI, it does not consider that its action constitutes a very serious violation of the independence of the Central Bank for the then Governor Carlos Costa , which ultimately turned out to be totally reckless and unimportant?” they ask.
“If engineer Isabel dos Santos used her departure from BPI as a form of ‘blackmail’ for her unsuitability on EuroBic, what prompted the Prime Minister to join this blackmail and try to condition Banco de Portugal’s decision?”, the PSD wonders. .
The Social Democrats want Costa to clarify whether he “did not agree with a possible non-recognition of the suitability” of Isabel dos Santos to understand “that it would be inconvenient to do so at the time”.
“Why, until 2019 (when the international arrest warrant was issued), did the government continue to praise the businesswoman and participate in events promoted by her?” they also wonder.
With regard to the Banif process, the PSD wants to know if Costa confirms that “in his written communication to the President of the European Commission and the President of the European Central Bank”, in 2015, he stated that “Banif is in a” resolution process was “and/or in the ‘pre-resolution phase’, although the voluntary sale process was still ongoing”, pointing out that “the Prime Minister cannot explain why he sent the letter to Brussels without informing the Bank of Portugal to set”.
On January 24, the Prime Minister responded to the PSD’s first set of questions, stating that he had never taken any steps with Banco de Portugal “or anyone else” in favor of Isabel dos Santos’ suitability, and to ensure that he acted only to trying to solve the shareholder blockade in BPI.
Regarding Banif, António Costa said that in December 2015, the Bank of Portugal, led by Carlos Costa, concluded that the sale of Banif by resolution to Santander was the only alternative to liquidation, and led the process.
Source: DN
