Former PSD deputy Malo de Abreu announced this Friday that he has withdrawn from the Chegi list in the legislative elections of March 10, following controversy over his place of residence in Luanda.
“I told the commissioners that I will not join the Chega lists and will not stand for parliament. Because I am a free man and the master of my destiny,” Malo de Abreu emphasizes in a written statement sent to the Lusa agency.
The decision follows controversy following a report in Sábado magazine that Malo de Abreu (who recently became an unregistered MP after leaving the PSD) received around 75,000 euros in subsidies and daily allowances for declaring his residence in Luanda.
Szabado reported that although Malo de Abreu lived in Luanda, throughout this legislature he lived “mainly between Lisbon and Coimbra.”
In a letter sent to Lusa, Malo de Abreu insists that his life “has passed and will pass through Luanda,” denying that he received any subsidies improperly.
President Chegi said António Malo de Abreu would be removed from the lists of parliamentary candidates if it was confirmed that “he abused” subsidies for declaring to parliamentary services his place of residence in Luanda.
On the 10th, Malo de Abreu informed the secretary general of the PSD that he was leaving the party and informed the president of the Social Democratic parliamentary group that he would become an unregistered deputy until the end of the legislature.
Ten days later, André Ventura declared him head of the Chega list in legislative assemblies outside Europe.