The leadership of the PSD was surprised by the request of the Social Democratic deputy Pinto Moreira to resume the mandate he had suspended after being appointed as an arguido under Operation Vortex.
“There was no previous coordination with the party leadership”a source close to the PSD president told the Lusa agency, noting that it was a personal decision by Pinto Moreira and that it surprised members of that body.
The same source said the party’s leadership and chairman, Luís Montenegro, were surprised by the decision, which will be presented to the party’s Permanent Commission meeting next Monday.
“The Permanent Committee of the PSD will meet on Monday and the political analysis of this case will also be carried out at that meeting”Lusa told the source close to Luís Montenegro.
Joaquim Pinto Moreira informed parliament that he intends to resume his mandate as deputy, which has been suspended at his request since March 29 after being appointed as arguido under Operation Vortex.
The information was provided by CNN Portugal and confirmed to Lusa by the chairman of the Transparency Commission, PS deputy Alexandra Leitão.
The request has already been received by the Commission and will be forwarded to the deputies who integrate it at the next meeting, on Tuesday, without any opinion or vote being required for this resumption of the mandate.
On March 29, the Assembly of the Republic approved the suspension of the mandate of PSD deputy Joaquim Pinto Moreira.
The deputy, elected by the Porto constituency, asked for his mandate to be suspended “for a period not less than 30 days and up to a maximum of six months” (the maximum allowed by the legislature), citing “compelling reasons of a personal character”.
Lusa tried to contact Pinto Moreira, so far without success, and the Social Democratic group is also not commenting on this deputy’s decision for the time being.
The Vortex Operation process is related to “real estate projects and associated licenses [na Câmara de Espinho]concerning multi-family housing and hotel units, involving urban interests of tens of millions of euros, processed for the benefit of certain market participants,” said the judicial police.
At issue is the “alleged practice” of crimes of passive corruption of political office holders – “ultimately aggravated” if the benefit is “high value” or “considerably high” – subterfuge, influence and abuse of power, the Opinion of the Transparency Committee said and the Statute of Deputies.
Source: DN
