A ‘kidnapping’ at the ministry, ‘threats of physical violence’ by the minister, coercion by the intelligence services. Frederico Pinheiro told this Wednesday in the parliamentary committee of inquiry of TAP his version of the events of recent months at the Ministry of Infrastructure. A statement that strongly contradicts the report of the Minister of Infrastructure. And that made almost the entire opposition again ask for the resignation of João Galamba.
“As an anonymous citizen without decision-making powers, I have been threatened by the SIS, insulted and slandered by the Prime Minister and the Minister of Infrastructure”, said Frederico Pinheiro, who accused the “powerful government machine” of trying to create a “false narrative about the facts”. The former deputy of Infrastructure denies having stolen a computer – which he says he legitimately stole from the ministry – and also refuses to have attacked other cabinet members: “I was the one who was attacked”.
During a hearing that lasted five hours, Frederico Pinheiro again accused João Galamba of planning to hide from the Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry (CPI) the existence of notes from two meetings in January – the first between Galamba and the then-executive chairman of TAP (on January 16); the second, a videoconference meeting that brought together Christine Ourmiéres-Widener, members of the PS group, and Frederico Pinheiro himself, and served to prepare the parliamentary hearing of the leader of TAP the following day. The former deputy says that it is clear from the notes he made of that meeting that “some of the questions were listed” that the PS deputies would ask Ourmiéres-Widener a day later, and that “the answers were defined” through the head of TAP.
It is these notes that will lead Galamba and Frederico Pinheiro to accuse each other of hiding information from the CPI. According to the report of the former deputy, the indication that the minutes of the January meetings should not be delivered to the CPI “was given by the Chief of Staff, in the presence of the Minister”, arguing that they were “informal” notes. Frederico Pinheiro also stated that the same chief of staff ordered an intervention on his mobile phone, to try and restore old messages about the said meetings, an action that would result in a “blackout” of the entire WhatsApp file. Eugénia Correia – who was heard at the CPI during the closing time of this edition – would later say that this blackout was the result of the action of Frederico Pinheiro himself, also claiming that he had never disclosed until April 24 that he had meeting notes.
For the former deputy “It was there then [no início de abril] the intent of omitting information, in an effort to disavow political responsibility”. Evidence for this, he argues, is that it was not until April 24 that he was told that the cabinet would respond to the CPI that there were no notes from the meeting. Frederico Pinheiro stated that in order to be called to the CPI he would have to contradict that version and it was finally agreed that he would send the notes by “the end of April 25”. Along the way there are several attempts to contact the Chief of Staff and João Galamba himself who, “raised and shouting”, asks Frederico Pinheiro to send him the notes. The former assistant guarantees that he sent them around ten o’clock in the evening, “within the agreed deadline”.
A day later, while João Galamba has just landed from Singapore, the Minister of Infrastructure calls Frederico Pinheiro to inform him that he has been fired. He himself says that the word exoneration was not mentioned in that conversation and that he was not informed of any obstacle to entering the building. But threats were made: the ex-deputy claims that the minister threatened to hit him twice.
Verbally dismissed, Frederico Pinheiro then went to the ministry and here too the accounts of both parties are completely different. “I didn’t attack anyone, I just freed myself in self defense from four people who pushed me and tried to take my computer”. Equipment the former deputy says he did not steal, speaking of a “damaging, lying and defamatory campaign”, “moved by senior state officials, through state resources”. “I was the one who was attacked,” insisted Frederico Pinheiro, who said he was “kidnapped” in the ministry building, from where he left alone accompanied by PSP agents. A report later contradicted by Eugénia Correia, who said she had been beaten that night by Frederico Pinheiro.
SISTER. “It’s best that we fix this properly”
One of the most sensitive issues of all that has happened at the Ministry of Infrastructure concerns the subsequent intervention of the SIS. According to Frederico Pinheiro, on April 26, already after 11 p.m., he receives a call from a “man identifying himself as a SIS agent” – information services. “My reaction is one of shock and disbelief,” he says, adding that he doubted he was actually an SIS agent. Therefore, he suggested to the interlocutor to “call SIS headquarters and give a code word. “At 23:39 I will be contacted with the code word,” said Frederico Pinheiro, who says he informed the agent of his doubts, to which the SIS agent SIS replied that he was “under great pressure from above”, adding: “The best thing is to solve this properly, because then everything can get complicated”. A “threat” that is “repeated two more times”said Frederico Pinheiro.
The former deputy will then have told the SIS agent that he would hand him the computer, but would be accompanied by “a relative, who is the assistant attorney general”, which the agent refused, arguing that it would be “better to make a settlement”. between the two”. The target asks to think for five minutes and finally he hands him the computer on the street: “I leave the house alone, meet the cop at the end of the street and give him the computer around midnight” The morning of the next day, it was PJ’s turn to knock on his door: “I remember the amazement of the officers [da PJ quando disse que entreguei o computador ao SIS”. Um relato que vem adensar as dúvidas sobre a ação do SIS neste caso, isto já depois de o Conselho de Fiscalização das secretas ter garantido a legalidade da atuação dos serviços de informações. Já sobre o contacto que foi feito com o SIS, outra questão sem resposta clara até agora, Eugénia Correia revelou na CPI que foi ela própria quem ligou para o SIRP (Sistema de Informações da República Portuguesa), recebendo depois uma chamada do SIS.
Se o ministro tem justificado o contacto com o SIS e a PJ com o facto de o computador de Frederico Pinheiro ter informação classificada, o ex-adjunto revelou que nunca lhe foi perguntado se tinha essa informação noutros dispositivos, nem nunca lhe foi pedido o telemóvel de trabalho, que disse ter tentado entregar, sem qualquer resposta – o telemóvel acabou por ficar na comissão de inquérito, para ser entregue às autoridades, para que seja tentada a recuperação das mensagens apagadas.
Do PSD ao BE, a oposição voltou a defender que João Galamba não tem condições para se manter no Governo – uma questão particularmente sensível, depois de António Costa ter recusado a demissão do ministro, contra a vontade do Presidente da República. Hoje será a vez de o próprio ministro ser ouvido na comissão de inquérito à TAP.
Com Rui Miguel Godinho
Source: DN
