Former SDP President Marques Méndez defended on Tuesday that the state ministry should launch a criminal investigation into how Banif was sold and asked the prime minister to give a public explanation on the Isabel dos Santos case.
On Tuesday, a political commentator unveiled the book “O Governador” published by Dom Quixote, the result of a series of interviews by journalist Observador Luís Rosa with Carlos Costa, who led the Bank of Portugal from 2010 to 2020 and sparked controversy.
For Marquez Mendez, the biggest revelation in the book concerns the Banif resolution at the end of 2015.
“I really hope that the prosecutor’s office will read the chapters of the book related to Banif, and if they do, they cannot but initiate a criminal case. This is a typical case of abuse of power and pleasing society. “Besides, I have already seen how the prosecutor’s office started an investigation and appointed defendants,” he said.
Based on the book, Mendes mentioned that while “a public sale is underway,” “the government has confidentially informed Brussels by letter that the bank is in the process of being settled.”
“Two opposing strategies, one public and the other private, was it just a coincidence or intentional?” – he asked.
The commentator also stated that at the same time “there were organizations and people in Brussels, together with the Ministry of Finance, openly declaring who should be the buyer of Banif, without a tender.”
“Was it favoritism or negligence?” he asked, given that there are three actors in this story – “two Portuguese and a foreign citizen” who “should explain themselves to the country”, without naming them.
As for the media case itself, which has already merited the prime minister’s announcement that he would sue Carlos Costa, the former SDP president said there was no “political explanation” for Antonio Costa.
“Did the Prime Minister consider the departure of Isabelle dos Santos from BIC to be untimely or inconvenient, yes or no? Did he contact the governor, yes or no?” he said, considering it more important than “knowing the phrase ‘knows if there was an intervention with the Bank of Portugal’.”
For the Marquis of Mendez, the possible intrusion of political power into a matter of this kind is “as serious and illegitimate as the intrusion of political power into a judicial investigation.”
Prime Minister António Costa has already said he will sue the former governor of Banco de Portugal for insulting his honor, after predecessor Mario Centeno said in a book that the head of government pressured him not to recall Isabelle. dos santos from BIC.
In his speech, Mendez praised the book as “an exercise in true service to the community” and the courage of the former Governor of Banco de Portugal to remove, “albeit belatedly”, Ricardo Salgado from Banco Espírito Santo, claiming that he was a target. during his second term due to a “petty payback” by former Finance Minister Mario Centeno.
“Today it is very easy to advocate for the departure of Ricardo Salgado, in 2014 the decision to remove him was an act of courage. Ricardo Salgado was a state within a state,” he said, saying he had “the most serious doubts” that someone else did it.
The former PSD chairman also praised then-Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho, who was in the front row of the audience, and pointed out the “lack of firmness” of most parties for “criticizing the police more than the police”. criminal”.
“We don’t just lack ambition, we also lack strong institutions, bold leaders with a personality, a really demanding culture,” Mendes lamented.
At the exit of the book presentation, where the former Presidents of the Republic Cavaco Silva and Ramallo Eanes, the former Prime Minister Passos Coelho, the President of the SDP Luis Montenegro or the former Minister of Finance of the Government of PS Teixeira gathered in a crowded hall. dos santos – no one wanted to make a statement.
Luis Montenegro, who called on António Costa to give explanations in the case of Isabel dos Santos, said that today he just came to watch the book launch.
“We will have time to talk about it,” he said, without answering whether the PSD is available to the parliamentary commission of inquiry, to which Chega objects.
As at the entrance, neither Passos Coelho nor Cavaco Silva wanted to make statements to the media, and the former president of the republic limited himself to praising the abilities of Carlos Costa as “one of the economists with the best knowledge of monetary economics and the best knowledge of the banking system.”
The book “O Governador”, published by Dom Quixote, is the result of a series of interviews by Observer journalist Luis Rosa with Carlos Costa, who led Banco de Portugal between 2010 and 2020, and has generated controversy.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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