BE announced this Tuesday that it will file a complaint with the Attorney General’s Office to review the legal framework of SIS’s performance in the recovery of a computer belonging to the Ministry of Infrastructure, with Chega and IL calling on the Prime Minister to draw political conclusions.
The parliamentary leader of the Left Bloc (BE), Pedro Filipe Soares, said the hearing of the Prime Minister’s deputy secretary of state, António Mendonça Mendes, was “another regrettable episode”.
“The government insists on giving the country half-truths, deliberate omissions and in fact trying to make the whole country stupid. This is unacceptable, it is incomprehensible,” defended. Pedro Filipe Soares accused the executive of trying to “maintain a series” that the country is already “fed up and tired”, insisting that “no member of the government has the legal cover for the action of the Security Information Service (SIS ) can justify.” on the night of April 26.
“From which we can draw only one conclusion: the action of the SIS is illegal, it happened outside the law, the legal framework that guides the actions of the SIS”, to maintain. In this context, the BE parliamentary leader believed that the “only consequence that can be drawn” in a state governed by the rule of law is to ask the question “who oversees the ‘secrets'”.
“Our answer is simple and obvious: the Attorney General’s Office (PGR) will have to open an investigation to validate the legal framework in which the SIS acted and we will file a complaint with the PGR to have this investigation to follow,” he announced, adding that this complaint will be filed “in the coming days.”
PSD wants to say goodbye to Galamba
The PSD chooses to draw its own conclusions, asking for the resignation of João Galamba and until the end of the day. The Secretary General of the PSD challenged the Prime Minister to exonerate the Minister of Infrastructure “by the end of the day” as it was proven that João Galamba had lied to parliament and the country after hearing António Mendonça Mendes.
“We had an assistant secretary of state to the prime minister who said that minister João Galamba is a liar and lied to the country and to the parliamentary committee of inquiry. What the PSD is saying today is that by the end of the day, the Prime Minister should exonerate Minister João Galamba, otherwise he is also a joke Prime Minister,” said Hugo Soares, in statements to journalists at the door of the PSD faction, in the Assembly of the Republic.
When asked whether the PSD admits to proceeding with a committee of inquiry into the functioning of the information services, if this dismissal does not go through, the general secretary of the PSD referred that question to another day. “The rest in due time,” he said, answering no further questions.
In his statement, Hugo Soares accused the Prime Minister of “being complicit in this lie from day one”, classifying the situation as “mud and mire”. “I remember when the prime minister decided to enter into an institutional conflict with the president of the republic to keep in government a minister who blatantly lied to the country and the deputies,” he criticized.
Enough wants legal and political evaluation
In turn, Chega leader André Ventura said the party will again ask that Infrastructure Minister João Galamba be heard in the TAP Commission of Inquiry, saying this is “the last chance” for the ruler to “tell the truth about how, who and why they advised you to use the SIS”
“In any case, today we will also report to the President of the Commission of Inquiry that the statements of Minister João Galamba should be relevant for criminal purposes since there was a lie with 90%, 95% or 99% certainty, made under oath.” to this committee of inquiryhe claimed.
For Chega, it is “essential that this commission does not end its work without João Galamba telling the truth” and that “his statements are sent to the Public Prosecution Service with appropriate consequences”. Ventura also stressed that Galamba has no “conditions of political authority” to remain minister and called on the Prime Minister, António Costa, to sack him by the end of today.
The president of the liberal initiative, Rui Rocha, stressed that it was clear today that “there is a clear discrepancy” between the versions of João Galamba and António Mendonça Mendes regarding the telephone conversation between them on the night of April 26. “This discrepancy has to do with the fact that João Galamba says that António Mendonça Mendes ordered him to involve the intelligence services. Now Mendonça Mendes does not confirm this version of events,” he stressed.
Rui Rocha therefore believed that there are “two members of the government saying different things, that is, one of them is missing the truth”. “The decision as to which of the two is not telling the truth is a decision that rests with the prime minister and depends on political judgement. (…) The official body empowered to exonerate ministers – that’s how you do it The President of the Republic recently referred to the Prime Minister – he has to make a decision today,” he underlined. If the person who did not tell the truth is João Galamba, said Rui Rocha, “a criminal assessment” will also have to be carried out, since he lied to a commission of inquiry, “in which not telling the truth is his own regime that criminal consequences”.
Source: DN
