Manages to join chorus of criticism – and deflect it at same time
Minister of Justice Rita Alarcão Júdice has seemingly joined the chorus of critics stacking up against the Attorney General/ Public Prosecutor’s Office following the ‘leaking’ of wiretapped conversations between former prime minister António Costa, and his minister for infrastructure João Galamba.
Criticism is currently of such stridency that the ‘upshot’ of these tapped conversations – that the government appears to have ‘lied’ about its reasons for sacking the former CEO of State airline TAP – has been lost in the maelstrom
Outrage is focused on the fact that the wiretaps were leaked; that investigations into political figures have come at sensitive times – and, to date, have not advanced in any kind of conclusive way.
PS Socialist leader Pedro Nuno Santos has dubbed the leaking of the tapped conversations “a crime”. Left wing parties are calling for ‘pondered debate’. There has been scant reference to the fact that the conversations threw up ‘behind-the-scenes politicking’ at its most expedient.
Talking to Rádio Observador, Rita Júdice admitted there has been a “certain discrediting” of the Public Prosecutor’s Office . She said she wants the next Attorney General to start “a new era” and “put the house in order”.
The ‘Justiça Cega’ slot saw Júdice bypass the issue of the sitting Attorney General (whose mandate expires later this year), saying the government ‘has no doubts about the profile of the new attorney general, who will have to be a leader’.
The government wants to start “a new era” in which the ‘capacity and credibility’ of the Public Prosecutor’s Office is reinforced.
“And that’s why it’s essential to have someone who can restore that trust,” she told her interviewers.
The next Attorney-General must also have a communication profile (which the current incumbent clearly does not): “Modern times are no longer compatible with the idea that we can be closed in our offices and not communicate with citizens in their own offices,” she stressed, adding that she is also open to “a legislative change that makes it clear that hierarchical power is to be exercised.
“There has to be hierarchy in the Public Prosecutor’s Office. It’s not a body that roams free”.
“The Public Prosecutor’s Office has a reason for being and one of its characteristics is that it is a hierarchical magistracy. The Constitution is clear on this matter. There has been some discussion about changing the statute of the Public Prosecutor’s Office and there has been an attempt to clarify this issue. If legislative changes are necessary, we are of course available for that,” she said.
But asked about the recently delivered manifesto calling for a reform in justice that restores the power of democratic legality over the Public Prosecutor’s Office, she stressed that no reform can be guided by political motives.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office “has internal bodies that control its actions and that must be vigilant, said the minister.
“I don’t see anyone worried about this lack of internal control. But this internal scrutiny also has to exist. There is a Superior Council of the Public Prosecutor’s Office that must also act if there is any suspicion that a particular investigation, a particular prosecutor, has gone beyond the exercise of his rights. We are all subject to scrutiny and everyone – prosecutors, judges, lawyers, etc. – have to comply with the rules that are applied,” she concluded.
Meantime, CHEGA has managed to ‘delay’ proposals lodged by PAN and Bloco de Esquerda, calling for the Attorney General to be heard in parliament on what both parties see as violations of the Secrecy of Justice rule.
Party leader André Ventura described the wave of criticism sparking these proposals as “a persecution of the organs of Justice, with the connivance of the media”, and a “whitewash operation” on António Costa (due to be confirmed today in Brussels as the next president of the European Council).
natasha.donn@portugalresident.com
