The parliamentary commission of inquiry into the case of twins who received a drug worth four million euros in 2020 will begin hearings this Monday with testimony from the former Undersecretary of State for Health, António Lacerda Sales.
The former socialist ruler has since been named as a defendant in the case.
According to the chairman of the parliamentary committee, Rui Paulo Sousa from Chega, the constitution of the defendants does not interfere with the work.
“Any accused has the opportunity to be accompanied by a lawyer and cannot answer any questions that he considers confidential,” explained Rui Paulo Souza.
The consideration of the case of Antonio Lacerda will take place in parliament at 14:00.
The hearing comes a week and a half after judicial police raided two NHS units and social care agencies.
At the time, the prosecutor’s office explained that the facts in question likely constituted “a crime of malfeasance that clearly competes with the crime of abuse of power, the crime of abuse of power under the provisions of the Criminal Code and qualified fraud.” “.
The 17-member commission will have four months to complete its work.
At a meeting on June 4, the commission determined that hearings should be held at least twice a week, approving requests for testimony from the President of the Republic and his son Nuno Rebelo de Sousa, as well as the head of the Civil Chamber, President of the Republic Fernando Frutuoso de Melo and the Adviser to the Head of State on Social questions Maria Joao Ruela.
If the President of the Republic, according to the legal regime of parliamentary investigations, may give evidence in writing.
In addition to calling on the parents of the twins to begin the hearing on Friday, the commission also approved, among others, the hearings of journalist Sandra Felgueiras, former Minister of Justice Catarina Sarmento e Castro, former Secretary of State for the Portuguese Communities Berta Nunez and former President of the Board of Directors of the Centro Hospitalar Universitário Lisboa Norte and current Minister of Health Ana Paula Martins.
At the initial stage, the commission undertook to listen to Lacerda Sales, the parents of the twins (first the father and then the mother), family lawyer, President of the Institute of Registration and Notary Filomena Rosa, Catarina Sarmento e Castro and Berta Nunez, due to the process of naturalization of the children.
We are talking about the inpatient treatment of two twin children living in Brazil, who received Portuguese citizenship and received the drug Zolgensma at the Santa Maria Hospital (Lisbon). Costing two million euros per person, the drug aims to control the spread of spinal muscular atrophy, a neurodegenerative disease.
The case was published by TVI in November last year and is still being investigated by the General Prosecutor’s Office, and the General Inspectorate of Health has already concluded that these children’s access to neuropediatric consultation was illegal.
Santa Maria Hospital’s internal audit also concluded that the state Department of Health’s first appointment at the hospital was the only exception to compliance in this case.
The chairman of the parliamentary commission of inquiry also indicated that new hearings will begin at 14:00 on June 17, 21, 25 and 28. Two hearings are already scheduled for July – on the 2nd and 5th.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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