“All of this has to be clarified because it involves a prime minister, the failure to communicate to the Supreme Court of Justice, the Central Court of Criminal Investigation… It is very serious,” he stated.
Cotrim Figueiredo reinforced that, so that people do not have “incentives to cast loose and diffuse suspicions on the Public Prosecutor’s Office (MP), it is extremely important that the MP is transparent in this and other matters that involve ‘timing’, the depth and even the delay of investigations”.
The presidential candidate considered that the fact that, recently, searches were carried out at Novo Banco “on the day that the sales contract was being signed elsewhere to the French entity that bought the bank”, as well as the searches at TAP in the week in which the deadline for expressing interests ended, “lend themselves to interpretations that the management of the MP’s timing is not totally innocent and independent”.
“I do not want to be part of that group. What I want is that, through these thorough explanations from the Attorney General of the Republic, these suspicions can be definitively dispelled, because an independent justice system is a very different thing from a justice system that is not subject to criticism or scrutiny”, he said.
Cotrim Figueiredo said that he has, so far, confidence in Amadeu Guerra, but that “confidence will be reinforced if he quickly explains what is happening in this case of the wiretapping of former Prime Minister António Costa and in all other cases where suspicions are growing”.
Regarding his visit to the Pisão Social Support Center, which welcomes adults with psychiatric pathologies who need basic subsistence care, Cotrim Figueiredo said he wanted to convey the message that the people who live there are also “part of the Portuguese social fabric” and deserve attention.
“A future can only be built on a basis of social and territorial cohesion and, therefore, resolving the daily problems of the Portuguese, including the Portuguese who have to resort to centers like the one here where we are, has to be a matter of concern”, he stated.
Cotrim Figueiredo, who was accompanied on this visit by former CDS minister Pedro Mota Soares, supporter of Marques Mendes, highlighted that the center is managed by a mercy and regretted that these are often underutilized and there is a “lack of coordination of some activities with Social Security”.