The head of the administration did not mention that the email was sent to Nuno Rebelo de Sousa in order to “avoid pressure”.

“There was never any contact with [hospital] “Santa Maria,” the chief of staff guarantees

The head of the Civil Chamber says that whenever a request is made that may be illegal, it is forwarded to the GPR. He also states that “there has never been any contact with Santa Maria.”

He also says there was a line, but he was “wrong.”

“I said there was a waiting list. I was wrong. I never spoke to the health minister about this case.”

Frutoso Melo also warns that he did not notice whether Nuno Rebelo de Sousa’s email to the President of the Republic came from email address A, B or C (personal or professional), and insists that he explained to PR that the chaos was sent to the Government, “like hundreds of thousands of others, in accordance with the law.”

The chief of staff says Marcelo never questioned the development of his son’s request for help

During the interrogation by the SDP, Frutuoso Melo assured that Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa did not ask any more questions about his son’s request for help regarding the twins.

The head of the Civil Chamber ruled out the possibility that Marcelo and the President of the Republic had entrusted Mario Pinto with the task of consulting on the matter.

“The case of the twins happened to Maria João Ruela,” explains Frutuoso Melo.

The head of the presidential administration used the testimony at the CPI to make it clear that the girls were Portuguese and that they had the right to citizenship and a social network. Frutuoso Melo explains that the case of the Portuguese-Brazilian sisters was referred to Maria João Ruela, the social affairs adviser, because the girls did not live in Portugal.

“Dr. Nuno Rebelo de Sousa did not receive the reaction he was hoping for,” guarantees the head of the Civil Chamber’s public relations department.

Deputy João Almeida reminded Frutuosa Melo of an email from Nuno Rebelo de Sousa in which he complained about bureaucracy and asked for more help for the families of the Portuguese-Brazilian girls.

“We all understand what you mean. Dr. Nuno Rebelo de Sousa did not receive the reaction he was hoping for,” the head of the presidential administration said.

The head of the Civil Chamber stated that he did not send the documentation to IGAS because it was under judicial secrecy

The head of the Civil Chamber of the President of the Republic explained that he did not send the documentation requested by the General Inspectorate of Health (IGAS) because it had already been sent to the prosecutor’s office and the process was under judicial secrecy.

The head of the Civil Chamber noted that, as reported by the President of the Republic, the documents on this case were sent to the Prosecutor General’s Office in December last year and added to the ongoing investigation in the Department of Investigation and Criminal Cases. The actions of the Lisbon Region, “which were under judicial secrecy.”

Frutuoso de Melo reported that on December 22, 2023, IGAS sent a letter to the President of the Republic asking for “information on the contacts that may have existed between the President of the Republic and the Centro Hospitalar e Universitário de Lisboa Norte in October 2019.”

A few days later, he called the inspector general and said that the documents were part of a secret investigation and therefore he could not send them to IGAS, but “I will forward the IGAS request to the Prosecutor General’s Office.”

According to the head of the Civil Chamber, such a response was given to IGAS in writing, but he said he did not know whether the General Inspectorate had contacted the prosecutor’s office.

Chief of Staff for Public Relations says there are people ‘much more persistent’ [que o filho de Marcelo]”

After discussing party issues, Frutuoso Melo noted the large number of emails and requests that the Presidency of the Republic receives daily. “Remember that our president is a person who loves direct contact,” he said.

“A letter to a sovereign body is a citizen’s right. We do what the law says,” he explained.

For the Chief of Staff, the decision to ignore the sender of the email he received about the Portuguese-Brazilian twins was the right one, given the circumstances. “I feel trapped by having a dog and not having one,” he says. “I think I did what I had to do, the right thing,” he said, stressing that no matter what decision he ultimately makes, his name will be in the papers.

At one point, MP João Almeida wondered if Frutuosa Melo considered Nuno Rebelo de Sousa’s insistence in emails about the treatment of the girls normal. The head of the Civil Chamber of the President of the Republic initially refused to comment, but eventually said that there were people “much more insistent”. [que o filho do Presidente]”.

“I have a gentleman who has been coming to Belém regularly since August 2019 and complains that he cannot get an appointment with a doctor,” he noted.

The head of the administration did not mention that the email was sent to Nuno Rebelo de Sousa in order to “avoid pressure”.

The head of the Civil Chamber of the President of the Republic assured that in the case of the Portuguese-Brazilian twins, there was “no favourable attitude” on the part of the president. Fernando Frutuoso de Melo said that, guided by “common sense”, when he received emails from Nuno Rebelo de Sousa regarding the treatment of the girls, he decided not to indicate who sent the messages, so as not to create a situation of pressure or embarrassment. .

“Obviously there is always some discomfort in these kinds of situations, so I didn’t mention who sent the message. mail“,” he said. “I tried to reduce the situation to a situation like any other.”

“There was no favourable treatment. The decision was purely medical and the hospital had to respond when it deemed it appropriate,” he explained.

The head of the administration presented the schedule

Frutuoso de Melo began by explaining that Nuno Rebelo de Sousa’s contact with the president took place three months after it was announced that Matilde, a child with spinal muscular atrophy, had been treated with the drug. Zolgensma. At the time, the drug was only approved in the US and was first used in Portugal. “The Matilda case stirred up the whole country. The Portuguese raised two million euros,” he recalls.

On October 21, 2019, Frutuoso de Melo received the first letter from Nuno Rebelo de Sousa about the twins. “He asked how he could help the two children, who also had Portuguese citizenship, and asked if they could access” medication in Portugal, he says.

On October 22, the head of the civil house of the President of the Republic reported that he had told Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa that the twins’ parents intended to send the girls, who were being monitored at the time in São Paulo, Brazil, for treatment in Portugal with the same medicine as Matilde.

The Presidency of the Republic, according to Frutuoso de Melo, responded to Marcelo’s son that it was necessary to take into account the cost of the medicine, the limited capacity of the SNS and various unfinished business. Later, Nuno Rebelo de Souza wrote one Email in which he asked if it was possible to speed up the process.

On October 29, the president’s son asked Frutuoso de Melo if he could contact the babies’ parents, and he replied that priority would be given to cases where people were living or remaining in Portugal, so it would be “unpredictable” that this would happen.