The president of the republic said on Tuesday that he was refusing requests from TAP officials to be received, as well as all types of contacts, so as not to interfere in any way with the ongoing parliamentary inquiry process in parliament.
At the former royal riding school next to Lisbon’s Belém Palace, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa declined to comment on matters being handled by the Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry into the political custody of TAP management, including the operation of information services.
The head of state said this is “one of the sensitive matters being considered in an ongoing parliamentary committee of inquiry” and “is one in which parliament has fundamental powers of scrutiny and oversight”.
“Anything the President of the Republic could say would be noise, and I have avoided that. In this case, I have mostly avoided this noise, for example, not receiving company officials who asked to be received by me, or not accepting contacts of any kind that were a way to interfere, directly or indirectly, in a process taking place in parliament,” he added.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa stressed that the parliamentary Commission of Inquiry into the political custody of TAP management “is a process that is in parliament, it belongs to parliament”.
“Parliament should lead it in its tender ways. And we follow, we sovereign bodies, we Portuguese, follow closely what is happening, but sovereign bodies other than parliament should not interfere in the life of parliament,” defended he.
Source: DN
