António Lacerda Sales’ in hot seat over preferential treatment given to Brazilian twins
The parliamentary committee of inquiry into the case of Brazilian twins treated in 2020 with a drug worth four million euros will begin its hearings today, with the testimony of former Assistant Secretary of State for Health António Lacerda Sales, an ‘arguido’ (official suspect) in the case. (see update below)
According to committee chairman, Rui Paulo Sousa of CHEGA, the situation of being a defendant “does not interfere” with the work of the inquiry.
“Anyone who is made a defendant has the right to be accompanied by a lawyer and may not answer some questions that they consider to be confidential,” he told Lusa.
António Lacerda Sales will be heard at 2pm this afternoon, in parliament.
The hearings begin a week and a half after PJ judicial police raided two SNS State health Service units and Social Security facilities.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office explained at the time that the facts in question could constitute “a crime of prevarication, in apparent competition with the crime of abuse of power, a crime of abuse of power as defined in the Penal Code and qualified fraud“.
At issue is the hospital treatment of children who living in Brazil acquired Portuguese nationality and received then the drug Zolgensma at Hospital de Santa Maria (Lisbon). At a cost of two million euros per person, this drug aims to control the spread of spinal muscular atrophy, a neurodegenerative disease.
The case was publicised by TVI last November and is still being investigated by the Attorney General’s Office.
IGAS, the General Inspection of Health Activities has already concluded that access to the neuropediatrics consultation for these children was illegal.
An internal audit of Santa Maria Hospital also concluded that the scheduling of a first hospital appointment by António Lacerda Sales was the only exception to compliance with the rules in this case.
Made up of 17 MPs, the committee will have four months to complete its work.
At its meeting on June 4, the committee decided that hearings should take place at least twice a week, approving requests for testimony from the President of the Republic and his son Nuno Rebelo de Sousa, as well as the head of the Civil House of the Presidency of the Republic, Fernando Frutuoso de Melo, and the head of State’s advisor on social affairs, Maria João Ruela.
In the case of the President of the Republic, according to the legal regime for parliamentary inquiries, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa can testify in writing.
As well as calling in the twins’ parents to start being heard on Friday, the committee also approved, among others, the hearings of journalist Sandra Felgueiras (who initially broke this story), former Justice Minister Catarina Sarmento e Castro, former Secretary of State for Portuguese Communities Berta Nunes and the former president of the Board of Directors of the Centro Hospitalar Universitário Lisboa Norte and current Health Minister, Ana Paula Martins.
In an initial phase, the commission undertook to hear Lacerda Sales, the twins’ parents (first the father and then the mother), the family’s lawyer, the president of the Institute of Registries and Notaries, Filomena Rosa, Catarina Sarmento e Castro and Berta Nunes, because of the children’s naturalisation process, meaning they now hold dual Portuguese and Brazilian nationality.
Rui Paulo Sousa has indicated today’s date, June 21/ 25 and 28 for further hearings, all scheduled to start at 2pm.
Two hearings are already planned for July 2 and 5.
UPDATE: António Lacerda Sales has invoked ‘Secrecy of Justice’, refusing to answer any questions today.
Source material: LUSA
