“Those owing nothing have nothing to fear”, says Pedro Nuno Santos
Within hours of news that Socialist leader Pedro Nuno Santos was now being investigated over ‘anonymous complaints’ into his financial propriety, the PS secretary general called a press conference beamed over evening news television bulletins.
“Those who owe nothing have nothing to fear,” was his bottom line, as it became clear that the Public Prosecutor’s Office “preventive investigation” centres on the purchase of two houses that Pedro Nuno Santos owns in Lisbon and Montemor-o-Novo.
The PS leader pledged to publish all documentation relating to the purchase on the PS portal today, and is completely available, he stressed, to be heard on this matter by investigators.
Mr Nuno Santos also mentioned his “surprise” at hearing of this investigation (via the press), the timing of which he suggested was “strange”.
But in a pre-election campaign that has already deteriorated into something of a mud-slinging match between political parties – leading to lacklustre viewing figures for the various ‘head-to-head’ televised debates – the Socialist secretary-general returned to casting aspersions over his chief rival, caretaker prime minister Luís Montenegro, who has been hounded in the press for weeks, following ‘anonymous complaints’ about his personal wealth/ earnings.
“Politicians have to be open to scrutiny. I have always been open to scrutiny. It is the nature of the job. When a politician avoids scrutiny at all costs, distrust increases. That is not the case with me,” said Mr Nuno Santos.
“I have all the relevant documentation to make available to journalists. The complaints are anonymous, but the truth is public. I will not pretend, like Luís Montenegro, that I hand over documents and then do the opposite,” he went on, suggesting this new situation gives him “the authority to demand that Luís Montenegro also take advantage of this moment to respond to what he has not yet responded to” about the family company Spinumviva (at the heart of the political crisis that brought the PSD/CDS government down last month) and the house (that the PM converted in Lisbon).
It was here that viewers will have fallen into different ‘packs’: those that believe Luís Montenegro when he says he has answered all the questions on his various business dealings; those that believe Mr Nuno Santos and CHEGA leader André Ventura, who keep saying that he hasn’t – and those who are completely fed up with the subject, and couldn’t really care either way.
For this last group, this constant pre-election sparring is what is making the whole process very tedious. But for Socialist and CHEGA die-hards, Mr Nuno Santos went into some detail: these two issues result from news that came to light during the last legislative campaign, he stressed.
“Even my own 8-year-old son’s accounts and balances were exposed in the media,” while his and his wife’s statements to the Constitutional Court “were scrutinised to the letter.”
Regarding the purchase of the two properties: “The house in Telheiras, which I bought with my wife at the end of 2018, cost €740,000 and was paid with a deposit of €92,500 from two of my accounts and €647,500 euros from a joint account, which are made up of €450,000 from a mortgage that I took out and €197,500 euros from my wife’s account”, he said – explaining that this loan was paid off with the money he made from the sale of the house he had in Praça das Flores.
Regarding the house in Montemor-o-Novo, he added that it was purchased in 2022 for €570,000.
“A deposit of €57,000 was paid from my wife’s account, the remaining €513,000 were paid as follows: €5,000 from my wife’s account, €508,000 from a joint account. Of these €508,000, €456,000 are the result of a loan that we are still paying off today,” he said.
Mr Nuno Santos also stated that his parents, throughout his life and that of his sister, always helped them, “like all parents who can help their children”.
This comment will have piqued the interest of those who have followed stories on the company owned by Pedro Nuno Santos’ father which has signed a number of contracts with the state over the years, 16 of which were ‘celebrated by direct contract (ajusto direto, meaning there was no tender process). ND
Source material: LUSA/ Expresso
