Pedro Nuno refuses to comment on Montenegro’s Madeira case, but demands consistency

The Secretary General of the PS refused this Thursday to comment on the position of the PSD leader on the judicial situation of the President of the Regional Government of Madeira, but emphasized that politicians must be consistent in these cases.

“We are not going to use any court case to play politics, justice has its time, it does its job, and politicians must make their own judgment at each moment about the conditions for implementing their positions and protecting institutions,” he said. said Pedro Nuno Santos following a visit to a social institution in Amadora.

Answering a question from journalists about how the PSD president reacted to the fact that the chairman of the regional government of Madeira, Miguel Albuquerque, became a defendant in a trial in which he is suspected of corruption, the Socialist leader responded: “It is very important for the population, for citizens to trust politicians.”

“It is very important that we are consistent in the positions we take. This is fundamental to ensuring trust in democratic institutions. We want all politicians, regardless of party, to be consistent as well. When we are inconsistent, there is a breach of trust – and this is serious,” he warned.

Pedro Nuno Santos even mentioned Operation Man of Influence, which led to the resignation of Prime Minister António Costa and the calling of early legislative elections.

“When I talk about consistency, I’m talking about myself. I mean the way we handled the court case that led to the resignation of the Prime Minister. We talk about this matter in exactly the same way. [com o presidente do Governo Regional da Madeira] or we’ll talk about something else,” he added.

For the President of the PS, in court cases involving politicians, it is important to respect the principle of separation of powers.”

“The independence of the judiciary and the presumption of innocence must be respected. We take these principles very seriously when we involve activists from PS, SDP or any other party. We will not be inconsistent in the way we separate politics from justice. “, he strengthened.

This Thursday, after delivering to the Judicial Court of the District of Lisbon the list of candidates from this circle of the Democratic Alliance (AD), which unites PSD, CDS-PP and PPM for the early legislative elections of March 10, Luis Montenegro – who has already spoken out on this case in Wednesday – asked about Miguel Albuquerque’s status as a defendant, which was not revealed until later that evening.

“This case naturally interferes with the work to clarify the situation that we intend to carry out with the Portuguese,” he admitted.

However, with regard to the specific case, Montenegro said it would wait for “all information that can come regarding the procedural dimension” of the case.

“We will always be ready to act accordingly from a political point of view. At the moment, with the information we have, there will be no change from a political point of view,” he said after being repeatedly asked whether he had retained political trust in the leader of Madeira, Miguel Albuquerque, who is also president of the Congress and the National Council of the PSD.

In response to a question about Luis Montenegro’s view that this case in Madeira is different from the one that led to the emergence of the Prime Minister, Pedro Nuno Santos commented: “I must resist the temptation to make this analysis by making comparisons that benefit me politically and harm my adversary.”

“I think it is a mistake to assign weight to different situations because the way people assess the severity of different cases also varies greatly. I’m not going to get into a debate about what is more or less serious. What is important is consistency on fundamental issues,” he insisted.

Faced with the position of the PS/Madeira party, which demanded the resignation of the chairman of the regional government, Pedro Nuno Santos called for autonomy for this structure of his party.

“I have nothing to add to the position of the PS/Madeira, which always respects the autonomy of our party in this autonomous region. We look at this case with concern because citizens must trust institutions, they must trust their elected officials,” he argued.

According to the indictment issued by the Ministry of State (MP), the president of the regional government of Madeira is suspected of corruption, malfeasance, abuse of power and attacks on the rule of law, among other crimes.

“The facts (…) are likely to abstractly confirm the actions of the suspects Miguel Albuquerque, Pedro Calado [presidente da Câmara do Funchal] and Avelino Fariña [líder do grupo empresarial AFA] facts that may include crimes against the rule of law, malfeasance, undue gain, passive corruption, active corruption, economic involvement in business, abuse of power and influence peddling,” reads the document, which was accessed by Lusa. . this Thursday.

Miguel Albuquerque was named on Wednesday as the accused in an operation carried out by the MP and the Judicial Police (PJ) in Madeira, the Azores and several areas of the continent.

Among the MP’s suspicions is an alleged conspiracy between the regional government (PSD/CDS-PP) led by Miguel Albuquerque, Pedro Calado and elements of the Pestana hotel group, namely Pestana CR7, allegedly involved “in a scheme to facilitate the real estate interests and businesses of this group within the framework of the construction of the Praia Formosa real estate project.”