Costa says he is “resentful” about being involved in the trial but is confident he will get away scot-free

The Prime Minister said this Monday that he was offended by his involvement in the judicial inquiry, expressed confidence that he would get away scot-free and wondered whether other officials would now support the decisions they made.

These allusions to the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, and the Attorney General of the Republic, Lucília Gago, were conveyed by António Costa in statements CNN Portugal at the official residence of Sao Bento in Lisbon before participating in parliamentary debates that precede the next European summit.

According to António Costa, the inclusion in the statement of the press service of the prosecutor general of the republic of a paragraph specifying that the prime minister was under investigation by the Supreme Court “was decisive” for him to demand his dismissal. November 7.

“Whoever performs the functions of prime minister cannot be under official suspicion. I have often been asked: what if this point did not exist? Well, I thought about it. I asked the President of the Republic that morning I would consider a meeting at 9:30 am,” said António Costa.

If this clause had not been there, the head of the executive branch admitted, “he would probably have waited for the investigative judge’s conclusion on the available evidence.”

“Now, faced with a statement in which a person, and not just a person, but the Prosecutor General of the Republic, intends to officially inform the country and the world that, in addition to everything else, a case has been opened against the Prime Minister, I have a duty that goes beyond my personal dimension. The role of the prime minister has an institutional dimension,” he explained.

In this sense, António Costa reiterated that today he would do the same thing if he decided to resign. He then proposed asking the same question to the Attorney General of the Republic and Marcelo Rebel de Souza.

“What we can do is ask whoever made that statement, whoever made the subsequent decision to dissolve the Assembly of the Republic, whether they would have done the same thing, given what they know today,” he said.

Asked if he was angry about the way he was involved in this trial, the Prime Minister said he was not angry, but said: “If you ask me if I have suffered, then yes.”

“Anyone who doesn’t think so is not the son of good people. No one ever questioned my integrity, my honesty. Nobody likes to be in this position after life,” he said.

He went on to claim a “great advantage” in such situations.

“If I have a very strong belief, it is a system of justice that is very original, has no analogues, but in which citizens can have guarantees and confidence: it is that no one is above the law. If you ask me if I think it’s okay for this to be published without action being taken, the suitability of the person is what justice should reflect. I have no doubt what the end of this story is. I know that I did not receive any benefits, no undue benefits were paid other than the salary I received,” he emphasized.

In statements he made to CNN/Portugalthe executive leader said several times that he had been wronged, but refused to be outraged.

“And because I’m an optimist, whether it’s annoying or not, I’m very confident. The reason I have so much faith in our justice system is because it is possible for one person or another to make a mistake at some stage of the process. maybe not the way I think, but there is one thing I have no doubt about: in the end the system works correctly,” he said.

In this context, he referred to the processes that affected his former defense ministers Azeredo Lopez and the internal administration of Eduardo Cabrit.

“There are two people I always remember well who were the only two people from my government who left because of legal problems and who had already seen their process come to an end. One of them is Professor Azeredo Lopez, whom they were pursuing. The attack on the Tancos barracks was completely justified,” he said.

As for Eduardo Cabrita, the Prime Minister noted that “he was even accused of murder.”

“He must have been the only pillion passenger in the world to be charged with dangerous driving and murder by hit and run. And he was acquitted,” he added.