The prime minister’s deputy secretary of state declined to clarify on Saturday what role he had in calling the information services to recover the former adviser to the infrastructure minister’s computer.
On the sidelines of the PAN Congress, which took place in Matosinhos, Porto district, António Mendonça Mendes did not respond to journalists about his alleged involvement in the recovery of Frederico Pinheiro’s computer, after Infrastructure Minister João Galamba stated in the Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry into the management of TAP that it was that official who instructed him to contact the information services.
“I would like to remind you that the Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry (CPI) into TAP is taking place, everything that the government had to say and is relevant in that matter has already said,” he replied to questions from journalists.
According to António Mendonça Mendes “what is important is that everyone does what he has to do, the CPI to TAP’s management will examine the facts related to TAP’s management”.
“In terms of the management of TAP, the government is essentially responsible for focusing on TAP’s restructuring plan and is also responsible for executing the initiated re-privatization process. That is what the government is focusing on,” he reiterated several times in the faced the insistence of journalists asking about his involvement in that case.
During a parliamentary hearing of more than seven hours in the committee of inquiry into the political management of TAP, João Galamba also said on Thursday that he had already reported to the Prime Minister, António Costa, at 1 a.m. on April 27. , the events at the ministry and told him “he was linked to the SIS”, a phone call that came hours after an initial attempt at contact to which the head of the executive did not answer.
The minister confirmed the version handed over the day before by his chief of staff – this would have been Eugénia Correia who reported to the SIRP (Information System of the Portuguese Republic) and was later contacted by the SIS – but guaranteed that he would not receive any instructions to to call it ‘secret’.
“My conversation with António Mendonça Mendes ends after Eugénia Correia’s conversation with the SIRP,” he said.
The April 26 incidents are related to Frederico Pinheiro, a former assistant to the minister, and involve allegations against him for alleged physical assault at the Ministry of Infrastructure and the alleged theft of a laptop computer after he was fired, a matter under investigation by the Public Prosecution Service.
Source: DN
