PSD Vice President Paulo Rangel said this Saturday that the backlog in the cost of works at the former military hospital in Belen requires “immediate clarification” from Minister Joao Cravinho and the Prime Minister, who, in his opinion, “should take responsibility.”
“Yesterday’s revelations [sexta-feira] in the weekly Expresso demand immediate and detailed clarifications from the Minister of Foreign Affairs and former Minister of Defense Joao Cravinho and the Prime Minister,” Paulo Rangel said at a press conference at the PSD headquarters in Porto.
Claiming that the “degradation and decay” of the political environment is “increasingly intense”, Paulo Rangel said the “respect” for the Armed Forces “requires immediate clarification” due to the backlog in the cost of the former military hospital. Belen, about which Minister Joao Cravinho was informed in March 2020, according to the newspaper Expresso.
Among the clarifications, Paulo Rangel said it was important for the PSD to understand why the minister “hidden his knowledge of trade” and what “motivated him to put up with the backlog.”
The Expresso newspaper reported on Friday that former defense minister and current foreign minister Joao Cravinho was informed in March 2020 that the cost of work at the former Belém military hospital was going down.
According to the newspaper, which cites a letter dated March 2020, with work already underway, Director General of National Defense Resources (DGRDN) Alberto Coelho — today is accused of corruption and money laundering under Operation Perfect Storm —, informed the minister of ” additional work”, which has already amounted to almost an extra million euros.
Asked if the PSD would ask for the resignation of Minister Joao Cravinho, the Social Democrat said that Prime Minister António Costa must “make this decision” and “take responsibility”.
“The Minister of Foreign Affairs, because of this scandal in defense, which he was aware of, and the Minister of Finance, because of the issue of compensation for Alexandra Reis, and now for all issues that are related to the situation with her mandate. in the Lisbon Chamber they are very politically conditioned. They are politically fragile, but it is up to the prime minister to decide under what conditions, in his opinion, the two main ministers of his government should continue to work,” he said.
Stressing that for the PSD, Minister João Cravinho is “wounded”, Paulo Rangel dismissed the possibility that the PSD “will fall into the temptation that some fall into, to shift the responsibility onto others”.
“The government must be proceeding from the fact that it has failed,” he added, saying that while “the economic and social situation of the Portuguese is deteriorating,” the government is “busy managing its confidence and survival.”
“[O Governo] busy licking his own wounds,” he said.
Paulo Rangel also criticized the former Minister of Infrastructure, Pedro Nuno Santos, who “because he knew about the damages to Alexandra Reis.”
“But amazingly, he forgot that he knew and that he authorized it, as if a decision of this kind did not need to be discussed with his secretary of state and chief of staff, who also knew. They didn’t talk about anything, they didn’t discuss anything, everything disappeared in a message from “Whastapp”, in the meantime it reopened and resurrected,” he said.
Former infrastructure and housing minister Pedro Nuno Santos confirmed on Friday that he had given “political consent” to Alexandra Reis’ departure from TAP, adding that he had been informed of the “final amount of the agreement” between the parties.
In a public clarification, Pedro Nuno Santos explained that after his resignation on December 28, he reinstated the timeline of former finance minister Alexandra Reis’ controversial departure from the Portuguese airline, leading to her resignation. from the Government, acknowledging that he was aware of the compensation paid in the amount of 500 thousand euros.
The Social Democrat’s criticism extended to Finance Minister Fernando Medina, who, he said, “returned to his usual political mantra” that “he knows nothing, he knows nothing, he is east of everything that happens in power.” the audience he was supposed to occupy.
“The SDP is dissatisfied with this state of progressive decline of the government and the institutions for which the government is responsible. Never before has this phrase from Hamlet made such sense as today: “There is something rotten in the Kingdom of Denmark.” and the prime minister must answer for it.”
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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