Parliament this Wednesday is debating proposals by Chega and IL to set up a commission of inquiry into SIS’s computer recovery activities from the Ministry of Infrastructure in conjunction with PSD, without disclosing whether it would impose it.
The two proposals will be put to a vote on Friday, and the SDP has already indicated that it will make them viable, but did not specify whether it wants a potestative (mandatory) investigation, which requires the signature of at least 46 MPs. .
The leader of the social democratic parliament, Joaquim Miranda Sarmento, said at the end of May that his party was considering whether to act on its own initiative, depending on clarifications from the prime minister, which are still unknown.
If the PSD does not proceed with a mandatory investigation, the establishment of a commission to investigate the disclosure of “secrets” should be rejected by the PS, which has an absolute majority and has already considered that it will contribute to “calling into question the protection and integrity of the Portuguese state”.
We are talking about the intervention of the Security Information Service (SIS) in the restoration of the office computer of Frederico Pinheiro, former assistant to the Minister of Infrastructure Joao Galamba.
On the night of April 26, Frederico Pinheiro went to the Ministry of Infrastructure after being rehabilitated to collect a computer that was supposed to contain secret documents and which was later discovered thanks to the intervention of the SIS.
In its proposal submitted in May, the IL argues that an investigation into the interference of “secrets” should be carried out in order to “determine the political, legal or other responsibility associated with the implementation of SIS in the current legislature.”
IL wants to clarify issues related to the “appeal of the Ministry of Infrastructure to the GSS” on the night of April 26, “possible instructions, directives or orders” that served as the basis for its actions, as well as “the practice of the current government for those who have intelligence services” .
Chega, on the other hand, wants to consider, in addition to SIS, the work of the Information System of the Portuguese Republic (SIRP), in particular “to assess the legitimacy and political responsibility associated with the entire process related to the recovery of a laptop.”
He also wants to understand whether the performance on the night of April 26 was “a one-time event or, on the other hand, there have been other situations of political interference” and “mistreatment” by the SIS and SIRP since the first run by António Costa in 2015.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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