Costa confronts Galamba about SIS and insists, “No one from the government was informed and no one from the government gave orders.”

António Costa was questioned by journalists this Monday at the Expo98 25th Anniversary Dinner about the controversy over Infrastructure Minister João Galamba and ensured that he was only informed the following day. “The SSS did not inform me of anything, no one from the government was informed and no one from the government gave orders,” he assures.

António Costa also mentioned that “the episode, as unbearable as it is, does not become the main problem of the country”, and added that “little is known about what SIS is”.

“I hope that the CPI fully fulfills its function for which it was created,” the prime minister said.

António Costa guaranteed that when “a secret document appears, it must be handed over to the authorities” and also acknowledged that “the authorities must act”, in which case “they acted in accordance with the law”.

Faced with the fact that Minister João Galamba, in front of the TAP Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry, reported that he had spoken to him about the use of the Information and Security Service (SIS) in the early hours of the 27th to recover a computer that was in the possession of Frederico Pineiro, a former Deputy of the Ministry infrastructure, António Costa confirmed that he did not know about this action in advance.

“I didn’t have any prior knowledge, nor should I have,” he assured, citing as an example the fact that interior ministers never had any prior knowledge of the PSP’s activities.

Regarding the controversy surrounding his telephone contacts with the Minister of Infrastructure, António Costa said that Joao Galamba himself had already said that he did not answer the first attempt to call him on the night of 26 April.

“Later, I called him later and he informed me about what happened. I asked if there was anything to be done and he said no. everything was going well,” he said.

The prime minister then defended the thesis that, within the higher levels of the Estadio service, “when a secret document disappears, it must be reported to the authorities, what has been done – and done very well.”

“Depending on the message the authorities receive, the context and the relevance they give to the documents, they decide whether to act – and they acted in accordance with the law,” he defended.

Regarding the succession of the SIRP General Secretary in these functions, António Costa stated that “she has an unsullied professional career, the credibility of which is not disputed by anyone”, and recalled that her choice was approved by the largest opposition party, the PSD.

“I see no reason for anyone to doubt their honesty,” he stressed, referring to Ambassador Graça Mira Gomes, before noting that, for his part, he also has no reason to doubt that the intelligence services will operate outside the framework law in the event of the recovery of a computer that was in the possession of Frederico Pineiro.

“Let the public ministry work and do its job,” António Costa concluded.

Asked about criticism of the government of Anibal Cavaco Silva, António Costa accused the right of “wanting to create an artificial political crisis.”