Livre considers that the shelving of the preventive investigation into Spinumviva, the Prime Minister’s family company, is positive, but does not invalidate a judgment about the Government leader’s lack of transparency and ethics. “It is positive that there is no suspicion of any criminal offense against the Prime Minister. From a political point of view, from the point of view of transparency and ethics, Livre has already made its assessment and we consider it to be negative. This is completely different from whether or not there is a criminal matter“, stated deputy Paulo Muacho.
Paulo Muacho spoke to journalists, at the Assembly of the Republic, in reaction to the decision announced by the Attorney General’s Office (PGR) to archive the preventive investigation into Spinumviva, a company owned by Luís Montenegro’s family, justifying that there was no “news of the commission of a criminal offense”.
The parliamentarian accused the prime minister of “thinking that elections would clean up” this case and reiterated the criticism that Montenegro “was not transparent in the management of this dossier and it was important that it had been”
Although he defended that politics should not interfere in matters of justice, Paulo Muacho considered that justice, when transmitting these types of decisions, must be transparent and guarantee access to “all available information”, reiterating reservations about the position of the Attorney General of the Republic in relation to the impossibility of consulting these preventive investigations after they have been archived. “This is not positive and also does not contribute to the necessary transparency that is important to continue to exist and we hope, in fact, that this decision is reviewed and that there can be full scrutiny on this matter”, he requested.
The deputy also argued that This case should provoke a “slightly more comprehensive reflection regarding the type of information and transparency that is required from political office holders“, in particular “in terms of clients with whom they have worked. “At the moment it doesn’t happen because the law doesn’t require it either”, he lamented.
PCP: archiving “does not erase promiscuity”
“The filing of this case by the Public Prosecutor’s Office does not erase the promiscuity between holding public office and economic power”, stated, for her part, Paula Santos, president of the PCP parliamentary group.
Paula Santos then stated that “the PCP has always raised the issue at political level”, particularly in relation to “the confusion that exists between the exercise of public positions and private interests”.
“These were the questions we raised. This decision [do Ministério Público] It has its place, naturally at the judicial level. But the PCP always addresses issues on a political level. And, with regard to this matter, there were, in fact, aspects that came to the public that revealed this confusion”, he added.
Matter resolved for IL
IL refused to comment on the Public Prosecutor’s Office’s decision to archive the preventive investigation into the “Spinumviva” case, a company owned by Luís Montenegro’s family, and considered that the assessment of this case was carried out in the last legislative elections. This position was conveyed by the president of the Liberal Initiative (IL), Mariana Leitão, in reaction to the announcement by the Attorney General’s Office that the preventive investigation into Spinumviva’s activities was shelved on Tuesday.
“I am not going to comment on specific issues regarding the Public Prosecutor’s Office’s decisions. Justice is doing its job, it has done its job, it will continue to do its job”, declared Mariana Leitão.
The president of IL later mentioned that early legislative elections were held last May that “ended up being caused, exactly, by the will, in some way, of the prime minister”.
“The Liberal Initiative was the only party that identified the real will of the Portuguese and, therefore, acted in accordance with that will, trying to prevent elections from taking place. But they ended up happening and the result is the one we all know. From the point of political assessment, this was done at that time”, he maintained.
Faced with the insistence of journalists in this case, the IL leader repeated that the May elections were held “contrary to the will of the Portuguese and, in essence, resulted in a result that ended up not being very different from the reality that was experienced previously”.
“From a political point of view, it seems to me that this issue is outdated, it no longer arises and the last elections indicate this. As for other issues in the judicial forum, they concern justice – and that is where they have to be dealt with”, he reinforced.
When asked about the time it took to complete the preventive investigation into the company Spinumviva, Mariana Leitão argued that the investigations “should last as long as necessary to be able to determine the facts and to be able to find evidence”.
“Then, obviously, there are the times of justice, which are the procedural times in court. Times are often exasperating and we have to do everything we can to ensure they are speedy,” he added.