José Luís Carneiro, secretary general of the PS, rejected this Wednesday, December 3, that he had asked for favors from the former Minister of the Environment, Matos Fernandes, saying that he only recommended the profile of a person to perform certain functions.
“Recommending the profile of people to perform functions for those in public life, in civic life, in political life, we do it, not every day, but very regularly. I was, at the time, assistant general secretary of the PS and, therefore, it was a very regular practice in carrying out functions, that is, recommending profiles of people to perform functions”, said José Luís Carneiro.
With the title “The wedges of José Luís Carneiro and Manuel Pizarro”, This Wednesday, Sábado magazine reveals wiretapping carried out as part of Operation Influencer and in one of which it is described that José Luís Carneiro asked the then Minister of the Environment, Matos Fernandes, for a job for the former deputy and former mayor of Aljustrel, Nelson Brito, on October 20, 2021. In that communication, the current secretary general of the PS said that the preference for employment was “south of the Tagus”. To which Matos Fernandes replied: “I haven’t forgotten. There is nothing in the waters in the administration of companies south of the Tagus.” Even so, the then minister promised to call the interested party.
Asked if he asked for a favor, the PS general secretary replied: “No, certainly not”.
As for having been listened to, the leader of the socialists, who was confronted with this news at the Hospital de São João, in Porto, where he went to visit the President of the Republic hospitalized after having undergone surgery for a hernia, said: “I didn’t know, but I also don’t see any special gravity in it.”
Sábado magazine reports that around 50 telephone calls from António Costa were intercepted, when he was prime minister, and more than 20 people were also heard.