Critics round on Attorney General, citing “mediocrity” of Public Prosecution’s Office
Former parliamentary speaker Ferro Rodrigues has called for the intervention of president Marcelo in what national newspapers are calling “the crisis in Justice” – following the second case in which a government has been toppled over ‘suspicions’ later dismissed by a judge of criminal instruction.
Mr Rodrigues is just one of multiple voices that have spoken out this week following the release by a judge of three men – held in jail for 21 days on suspicions of corruption that brought down the PSD regional government of Madeira – on the basis that he (the judge) could see no evidence that they had acted in any kind of corrupt fashion.
Public prosecutors wasted no time in lodging an appeal – and PJ police chief Luís Neves has insisted the investigation is still very much alive. But the message this has transmitted to most people is that one can be arrested in Portugal and held in jail for three weeks only to see a judge decide there were no grounds for any of it.
This in itself is more than serious, but when it involves the tenure of a democratically elected government, it smacks of something sinister.
Operation Influencer in November led to the elections the mainland will be having in little over three weeks’ time. It led to the resignation of one of the most charismatic political leaders in recent history – and may well have torpedoed his own aspirations for a political future in Europe. And yet, when it came to deciding the fate of the arrested men in that investigation, all were released and the judge specifically downgraded the inquiry to one that did not involve corruption.
Madeira’s arrests have led to the ‘collapse’ of the PSD government of Miguel Albuquerque; Albuquerque’s resignation and the resignation of his presumed successor within the party, Pedro Calado.
Now, due to the judge’s ruling, tables have turned to the extent that there is talk that Miguel Albuquerque could ‘return’ and ‘carry on regardless’.
On top of all the political upheaval affecting national and regional politics, Portugal really is beginning to stand out for almost Keystone Cop confusion at strategic levels – hence Ferro Rodrigues’ intervention.
Through an interview in Público published today, he said that President Marcelo should act “quickly” and give a “signal” that the current situation within the country’s justice system “cannot continue”.
Ferro Rodrigues’ belief is that “intervention is necessary” – and the president is the “only sovereign body that currently has all its powers” – bearing in mind the government is limping along in caretaker mode, and parliament has been dissolved ahead of the elections in March.
The former parliamentary speaker, considered as a ‘historic figure’ by contemporary Socialist militants, believes Marcelo should be calling a Council of State, to take place before the official start of the electoral campaign (February 25) “to force parties to make proposals and commitments”.
He infers that it is “unacceptable” that politicians and the various parties “are pretending that something very serious isn’t happening” in the justice system.
Ferro Rodrigues is just one of many speaking out in shock over what happened this week – not least because the judge who released the three men was the same judge who had refused their defence lawyers’ applications for bail for the previous few weeks.
Yesterday, former PSD leader Rui Rio called for the resignation of Attorney General Lucília Gago (the woman in charge of the Public Prosecution’s Office) – and this call has been echoed by one of the defendants’ defence lawyers Magalhães e Silva who considers Ms Gago “has no control” over her public prosecutors.
Augusto Santos Silva – the most recent parliamentary speaker – has also spoken out, describing his “perplexity” over what has been allowed to happen: the nation needs to reflect “very deeply” on the conditions under which citizens are deprived of their liberty in Portugal.
Certainly Ferro Rodrigues sees the Public Prosecutors’ Office as mired by “complete irresponsibility and mediocrity”. He suggets that the well-worn refrain about the separation of powers, and justice being left to justice, with politics not getting involved, is outdated.
But, this far, President Marcelo looks unswayed. He said yesterday: “I’m not commenting on a specific case, I never have. It’s a process that’s underway and, as it’s underway, it can’t merit a specific comment from the President of the Republic”.
Since then, several times, the country’s head of State has repeated this message – and today he is meeting with the representative of the Republic in Madeira, Ireneu Barreto, to decide on the best way forwards – which may involve leaving things exactly as they were before two Air Force planes carrying investigators landed in Funchal airport last month and shattered the status quo.
