“Everything indicates Marcelo will not be attending”
The parliamentary inquiry ‘requested’ by CHEGA in the wake of the damning IGAS report into the multi-million ‘free health treatment’ in Portugal of Brazilian twins is unlikely to get the result the right wing party hopes for: the hearing of President Marcelo, intrinsically involved in this slow-burning scandal in as much as it was he who initially received the approach for help, via his own son, Nuno Rebelo de Sousa – a resident of Brazil and apparent ‘mover and shaker’ in that country.
Expresso and its ‘sister’ media outlet SIC Notícias have both explained that President Marcelo is not supervised by parliament, and therefore “cannot be forced to answer, unlike most citizens and public office holder”.
He will only respond “if he wants to – and it seems he doesn’t want to”, says SIC.
“Every time he is questioned about the case, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa says he doesn’t want to comment on the matter and refers to the ongoing investigation by the Public Prosecutor ‘s Office.
“When asked by Expresso what might happen if Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa is called upon to provide clarification, the Presidency of the Republic simply referred to the rules governing parliamentary inquiries:
“Based on the Legal Regime of Parliamentary Inquiries, “the President of the Republic, as well as former Presidents of the Republic, for facts of which they became aware during the exercise of their functions and because of them, have the faculty, if they wish, to testify before a Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry, in which case, if they prefer, they have the prerogative of doing so in writing”.
“However, members of the president’s Civil House entourage – as well as the former and current government officials involved in the case, such as former Secretary of State Lacerda Sales, who is not a member of parliament, former ministers Marta Temido and Manuel Pizarro, who sit in parliament, and current Minister of Health, Ana Paula Martins, who, while in charge of Santa Maria Hospital, ordered the opening of investigations after the case was reported – will be forced to testify” (whether they want to or not).
As a result, says SIC, “Ventura may not get answers from the President, but he will get to question figures from the two largest parties, which refused to vote to approve the commission of inquiry” and which he has accused of trying to effect a cover-up.
Put more simply, CHEGA may not get exactly what it wants, but the inquiry should manage to get closer to the truth of what appears to have been a glaring example of how things (should not) get accomplished in Portugal.
