The president of the republic said this Thursday that he does not speak publicly about “problems with information services” and believed that it is essential that these services “be of the state, not of a government”.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa spoke to journalists as he left the auditorium of the Ordem dos Contabilistas Técnicas, where he spoke at the National Congress of Misericórdias in Lisbon.
Asked about the answers the Prime Minister, António Costa, gave to a PSD request about the intervention of the information services in the recovery of a computer taken from the Ministry of Infrastructure on April 26, the head of state stressed that he was talking on this matter “very carefully, as you have already noticed”.
Fortunately, you have already realized that the person who spoke to me was the Prime Minister, on the 29th. [de abril]and then over time of course”repeated the President of the Republic, referring to the fact that “the issue of the intelligence services was not mentioned in the first contacts, because they came from a distance”.
Then Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa said: “You also noticed that I am not going to speak publicly on the subject of intelligence services”.
Or rather, I said the gist on the 4th [de maio], that is, the information services belong to the state, not to any government, whatever it may be. This is a matter of principle. Furthermore, no head of state speaks publicly about problems with intelligence services.”he added.
When asked why he did not speak to the Prime Minister before April 29, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa replied: “That’s a question you don’t have to ask me.”
SIS intervened in the recovery of a computer stolen from the Ministry of Infrastructure on April 26 by Frederico Pinheiro, former assistant to Minister João Galamba, who had been fired that night.
This case concerns complaints against Frederico Pinheiro for physical violence at the Ministry of Infrastructure, rejected by him, who complains that he was kidnapped in the building.
After the April 26 incidents, opposing versions appeared in public between elements of the Cabinet of the Minister of Infrastructure and Frederico Pinheiro regarding information to be provided by the government to the parliamentary committee of inquiry into the political protection of TAP management.
On April 29, Minister João Galamba gave a press conference on these events, in which he spoke about the use of the SIS and named several government officials with whom he said he had consulted about the next steps.
Three days later, on May 2, the President of the Republic met Prime Minister António Costa at the Palácio de Belém.
After that meeting, João Galamba tendered his resignation, which the Prime Minister refused, and Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa expressed his disagreement in writing over the maintenance of the Infrastructure Minister.
On May 4, in a communication to the country, the head of state assumed a “fundamental disagreement” with the prime minister over the retention of João Galamba as minister, who defended that he had a cost to the authority of the government and the state, and promised to “to be even more attentive and involved in everyday life”.
In that statement, he referred to the involvement of the intelligence services and wondered “how can this minister not be responsible for scandalous, very bizarre, intolerable or deplorable situations” in his office, leading to “appealing the most sensitive services of national security, which, moreover, are by definition in the service of the state and not of governments”.
A week ago, at the Lisbon Book Fair, when asked how he found out about the work of the SIS, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa replied:: “What I can say is that the first contact I had with anyone about this matter was on the 29th, on my way back from Ovibeja”.
The President of the Republic did not disclose who that person was at the time. This Wednesday, he added that he had always contacted the same official body on the matter, saying it was easy to deduce who it was, and later clarified that he was talking about the Prime Minister, without naming him though .
Source: DN
