Former PSD leader Rui Rio defended himself in an interview published this Thursday in Newspaper that the Republic’s Attorney General “should resign from his post following Operation Man of Influence, which led to the resignation of the Prime Minister.
The Operation Influencer process involves the lithium, green hydrogen and Sines data centers businesses and is based on allegations of malfeasance, active and passive corruption among political officials and influence peddling.
The searches and arrests carried out on November 7 prompted the PGR to release a statement revealing that the prime minister was the subject of an investigation by the Ministry of State (MP) in the Supreme Court, prompting António Costa to submit his dismissal.
In an interview published today in the journal Jornal de Notícias (JN), the former PSD president believes that the Prosecutor General of the Republic (PGR) Lucília Gago “should leave her position,” stressing that she is “not clear” about the information she provided to the country.
“Not only did Ms. PGR not express herself clearly, but she even admitted that she “doesn’t feel responsible for anything.” Even worse, she opened a case against the prosecutor Maria José Fernandez, who courageously dared to express her critical opinion about the functioning of the Deputy. Even more seriously, it is known that the Deputy had the telephone conversations of a member of the government under wiretapping for four years.(…).And, for me, it is clear that he should give up his position, but in modern Portugal, his permanence would not be so unusual,” he said.
According to Rui Rio, “Taking into account this paragraph of the PGR, the Prime Minister had no choice but to resign.
“In practice, the prime minister was fired by PGR. And this same PGR does not even realize what very serious damage it caused to the country when it became known throughout the world that the Prime Minister of Portugal resigned due to suspicions of corruption,” he emphasized.
In the understanding of the former SDP leader, the investigation weakens the PS, but “even more so” the Prosecutor’s Office.
“Even if we take into account that the President of the Republic was in a hurry – and this is my opinion – the source of the crisis is the deputy who does what he wants and how he wants, and did not even deign to give an explanation to the Portuguese. The arrogance typical of absolutes of power feels exactly like this himself as a deputy when he doesn’t have to answer for anything to anyone but himself (…),” he said.
When asked whether justice acted for political reasons and whether there was interference of justice in politics, Rui Rio replied that justice and a deputy are not the same thing.
“Based on what we see, what I know and from my experience, I am of the opinion that this happens in relation to deputies and joint ventures. Why are their actions towards politicians always monitored on television? Why? Why did they search my house just because of an issue that all parties have been quietly considering for 40 years?,” he said.
The residence of Rui Rio, as well as the national headquarters of the PSD, were the subject of searches in July on suspicion of embezzlement and abuse of power in the use of public funds in a political party context.
In the interview, Rui Rio believes that a deputy not only has a duty to be autonomous, but also has a legal and ethical obligation to investigate anything that might raise suspicion.
“What was very wrong was the way it was done and the often poor knowledge that researchers found on the issues at hand,” he stressed.
Regarding the case of the Brazilian twins treated at the Santa Maria Hospital in Lisbon, and when asked whether it undermined the credibility of the President of the Republic, Rui Rio noted that “most Portuguese are convinced that the PR is the first responsible for the discord that led to unjustified favoritism.”
“In a democracy, this is a situation that greatly weakens the head of state, that is, this is a very delicate issue,” he emphasized.
The former SDP leader also said in an interview with JN that “Chegi’s rise is a consequence of the parties’ inability to seriously address the country’s problems.”
In an interview, Rui Rio refused to answer questions related to the PSD.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
I’m Tifany Hawkins, a professional journalist with years of experience in news reporting. I currently work for a prominent news website and write articles for 24NewsReporters as an author. My primary focus is on economy-related stories, though I am also experienced in several other areas of journalism.