António Costa demanded respect for the information services, after which the Director of SIS, Adélio Neiva da Cruz, and the Secretary General of the Information System of the Portuguese Republic (SIRP), Ambassador Maria da Cruz, were heard in parliament this Thursday. Graça Mira Gomes, to clarify the circumstances under which the SIS was contacted on April 26 and took action to recover a computer owned by Frederico Pinheiro, former deputy of the Ministry of Infrastructure, who had been dismissed that day by minister Joao Galamba.
“We have to learn to respect the institutions. I don’t remember any failures pointed out to the SIS. This is very good for democracy. The current secretary general of SIRP is a great Portuguese diplomat. I don’t know of any censorship about our information services. The Supervisory Board has already unanimously ruled on this matter and said that there was no violation of legality. It is not worth seeking out controversies if they do not exist.”said the prime minister on the sidelines of an event in Benfica.
The head of government declined to comment on the parliamentary committee of inquiry, noting that it was “evolving” when it was intended to study the management of TAP between 2020 and 2022 under the pretext of the compensation deal with a former manager, but excluded political consequences for João Galamba. “The Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry deals with management between 2020 and 2022 and João Galamba was then Secretary of State for Energy”he remembered.
In a version common to Adélio Neiva da Cruz and Graça Mira Gomes, the SIS acted without any suspicion of involvement in any crime at the time, which will ensure the legality of its action. If there were suspicions of a crime, the SIS should inform the PJ or PSP.
At the meeting of the Constitutional Affairs Committee, the Director of the SIS and the Secretary-General of the SIRP were asked whether the version that it acted “secretly” without being in the presence of suspicions of a crime could not contradict what the Prime Minister, António Costa said on April 29 during a press conference about the theft of a computer.
For the deputies, however, this statement of a denial of the Prime Minister’s words was denied, claiming that the information available on April 26 on this matter was different and less than that circulated later, when António Costa spoke on April 29 .
Source: DN
