The SDP accused the government of “acting outside the law” for refusing to forward to the TAP commission of inquiry opinions that provided “legal support” for the CEO’s dismissal for good reason, requesting an urgent meeting this Wednesday.
In an interview with the Lusa agency, Paulo Moniz, the PSD coordinator of the TAP commission of inquiry, explained that the party requested in the request the legal basis referred to by Finance Minister Fernando Medina “during a press conference. dated March 6, which announced the dismissal of the TAP Director General for a good reason.
“It so happened that we were surprised, immensely surprised, in fact, amazed that they did not send us this information, where it is immediately clear that the ministers not only deceived the Portuguese regarding the publicized legal certainty of their decision, but also came to the conclusion that these same ministers act outside the law,” the Social Democrat accused.
The matter, according to the deputy, is that the ministers of finance and infrastructure “hid the documents from the parliamentary commission of inquiry in clear disrespect for the legal regime of parliamentary investigations and the powers of the Assembly of the republic itself.”
“This is an incredible situation, and therefore we demand an emergency meeting of the parliamentary commission of inquiry in order to be able to discuss and take a position on this kind of response in violation of the law,” he said.
The request requesting this meeting, which PSD wants to hold before the commission of inquiry hearing scheduled for this afternoon, cites the response received from the ministries of Fernando Medina and Joao Galamba.
“Decree of the Assembly of the Republic No. 7/2023 of February 14, 2023 approved the establishment of a commission of inquiry to exercise political oversight of the management of TAP SGPS and TAP SA. limited (see subparagraphs a)-g) of the said resolution) and, as well as the time horizon (the period from 2020 to 2022),” they say.
According to the same government response, “By extending the aforementioned purpose of the Parliamentary Inquiry Commission and/or referring to the facts arising from the relevant constitution, the required information is not subject to” the Legal Regime of Parliamentary Inquiries.
According to Paulo Moniz, “the government should not assess the need and possibility of the documentation” requested by the deputies.
“This is exclusively the sphere of the parliamentary commission of inquiry, political forces and elements that integrate it and who understand the need for documents that can be requested for their work, they are requested in documentary cases,” he defended.
Insisting that this government response is the result of a “disregard for the rule of law” and constitutes a “deep disrespect” and “an insult to the authority of the supreme body of the Assembly of the Republic,” the SDP MP wants an investigation to meet this Wednesday to “find tools and mechanisms” to get access to the documents you requested.
On April 4, just the same day as the TAP CEO’s hearing, the PSD requested documents and opinions that gave “legal support” to the government’s decision to fire Christine Urmier-Widener for good cause, to find out if it was the decision that “best protected the interests of Portuguese taxpayers.
“The PSD wants to make sure that between Friday the signing of the report proposal [da IGF] and Homologation Monday, if all these documents exist, all these opinions that point with unequivocal certainty to dismissal for good reason as the best solution to solve this problem and as the solution that best protects the interests of Portuguese taxpayers”, Paulo Moniz told reporters in that time.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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