A “gross discrepancy”; versions of the same event “that do not match” and a “possible crime of false statements”. The arguments were left this Wednesday by Paulo Moniz, deputy of the PSD, before the work of the Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry (CPI) on TAP began, and serve to justify the request that the Social Democrats will make to the public Ministry (MP) for assess whether or not there were false statements made by João Galamba, Minister of Infrastructure.
The deputy – who is also the PSD coordinator at the CPI – stated that, after hearing the versions of António Costa, Prime Minister, António Mendonça Mendes, Deputy Secretary of State, and João Galamba, about the events of the night of April 26, when Frederico Pinheiro (former deputy for infrastructure) was fired the PSD noted a “gross discrepancy” between the reports. For this reason, the party will formalize the oral request (which will be voted on at the next meeting) so that the minutes of Galamba’s hearing at the CPI are unpacked so that “it will be sent to the prosecution” to judge whether the leader lied or not, in the CPI.
This was assured by the Deputy Secretary of State to the Prime Minister, António Mendonça Mendes, last Tuesday “there was” no call for SIS to collect the computer from the Ministry of Infrastructure which was owned by Frederico Pinheiro. “A report is not a request to act,” he said.
In view of this, the Social Democrats – in the person of general secretary, Hugo Soares – asked António Costa for the dismissal “until the end of the day” of João Galamba, considering that the lie of the minister had been proven in his hearing in the CPI. They were followed by Chega and Iniciativa Liberal, who called for Galamba to be removed in a similar vein. But in response, the Socialist parliamentary leader, Eurico Brilhante Dias, called the conclusions “hasty” and referred that the report to the SIS was “more than clear”.
When testifying against the deputies, it should be remembered that João Galamba revealed that on the night of April 26, he called several government officials – including António Costa, who did not answer him -, and that António Mendonça Mendes, one of those contacted, “counsel had given to use the SIS. On Tuesday, the Prime Minister’s deputy secretary of state did not confirm, saying only that when both spoke he did not have all the information to “assess immediately” whether or not to activate the SIS.
However, the criticism also extends to the left. On Tuesday, Pedro Filipe Soares, parliamentary leader of the Bloco de Esquerda, classified Mendonça Mendes’ hearing as “another regrettable episode” and announced that it will file a complaint with the Attorney General’s Office (PGR) about the legality of the actions of the SIS in this case. Our answer is simple and obvious: the Public Prosecution Service (PGR) will have to open an investigation to validate the legal framework in which the SIS acted and we will file a complaint together with the PGR to continue this investigation,” the deputy announced.
Paulo Raimundo was of the opinion this Wednesday that in this case “someone is lying” and whoever is lying “cannot, of course, continue to lie to the Portuguese”. “I think it would be a bit of an exaggeration to say that the inconsistencies were the responsibility of the secretary of state. There are inconsistencies in history, no doubt about that,” the communist leader said.
With Lusa
Source: DN
