António Mendonça Mendez speaks before the Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional Affairs at the request of the Liberal Initiative regarding the intervention of the Security Information Service (SIS) in the recovery of the computer of João Galamba’s former aide Frederico Pinheiro.
in a minute
Updated June 6, 2023 | 16:43
16:10 | 06/06
Mendonça Méndez begins by saying that Prime Minister António Costa “has been briefed on the subject by the Minister of Infrastructure.”
“No, I have not spoken to the service. I have never spoken to the service [de informação] what is my life as a ruler. Very different conversations about data exchange with SIRP and about orders in SIRP. I did not give any orders to the special services,” he says.
According to the Secretary of State, SIRP “is not activated by the government.” “I repeat here that there was no call to action for SIRPs and services,” he explains.
16:03 | 06/06
PKP MP Alma Rivera says she is not interested in “who called whom and how many times” but “the legality of the CCC’s actions under the circumstances.”
Like the PCP, Katarina Martins from Bloco de Esquerda wants to know the legal basis for SIS intervention.
15:47 | 06/06
“What did Joao Galamba say to you? Have the ministers also informed you about what is happening in the Ministry of Infrastructure, namely looting and violence?” asks Rodrigo Saraiva of the Liberal Initiative.
“The secretary says he didn’t ask him to report, and the minister said in CPI that’s what he was told,” he adds.
15:41 | 06/06
Pedro Pinto, MP for Chega, asks Mendonço Mendez if he has spoken to the prime minister. “It seems that this government is playing a game of liars: who lies more, who has the smallest nose,” the deputy says.
“Who’s lying?” he asks.
15:38 | 06/06
Pedro Delgado Alves, vice president of the PS bench, says that “secretary of state already answered questions what should I do with it.”
He leaves Mendoncé Mendez with only two questions: “Did you talk about it with the Prime Minister that night? Have you spoken to the General Secretary of the Information System of the Portuguese Republic?”
15:35 | 06/06
Andrew Neto, The PSD MP recalls that “Joao Galamba said that it was the Prime Minister’s Deputy Secretary of State who suggested he contact SIS”, but now Mendonça Mendez “said the opposite”.
“The government today must choose who lied: Joao Galamba or the prime minister,” he says.
“Did I tell the minister to contact the CCC or not,” he asks.
15:24 | 06/06
The liberal initiative begins by asking the prime minister’s undersecretary of state whether he confirmed that he received a call from the minister of infrastructure on April 26. “Today there is no place for him. Either yes or no: did you speak to Joao Galamba that night?” says MP Rodrigo Saraiva of Illinois.
“I confirm that the Minister of Infrastructure called me on the night of April 26 to report on the developments” at the ministry.
“Yes, the minister called me. Yes, I answered the call. Yes, he told me about the events of the Ministry of Infrastructure. Yes, the Minister was very concerned about the secret information that was on the computer and to whom it should be reported. No, the report to the SIRP was not the result of a suggestion or direction from me or any member of the government,” he says.
“Report [dos acontecimentos no Ministério das Infraestruturas a 26 de abril] in the CCC was not the result of any suggestion, direction, or direction on my part or on the part of any member of the government. And that’s how it should be,” he said.