Patrícia Dantas was to have started her new job at finance ministry yesterday
Former PSD MP Patrícia Dantas, who had been invited to be a deputy to the Ministry of Finance, has decided not to take up the post, following news reports of her involvement in a major fraud investigation.
Said a statement from the finance ministry today: “Following reports in the media about a case that began in 2017 and is still underway in the appropriate places, without any judicial decision having been handed down, Patrícia Dantas, maintaining the presumption of innocence that is required, and after consideration, has informed the Minister of State and Finance that she has decided not to take on the role of deputy to the Ministry of Finance.”
Today’s edition of Correio da Manhã – the country’s ‘best read tabloid’ – carried the subject on its front page, under the headline: “Ministry hires woman accused of fraud”.
For a government that has insisted that it wants to tackle corruption at all levels and be ‘different’ from past administration, this was the wrong kind of media focus.
Patrícia Dantas used to be a PSD member of parliament in Madeira – where the current PSD administration recently fell under suspicions of cronyism/ corruption and favoritism. ND
