Five citizens, including ex-candidates for the Presidency of the Republic, addressed a letter to the President of the Assembly of the Republic, in which they asked for “appreciation of the abundant conflicts of interest that remain” among the deputies.
The letter, sent this Sunday to the media, is signed by Paulo de Morais and Henrique Neto, by the president of the Transparency and Integrity Association, João Paulo Batalha, by the president of the Observatory of Economics and Fraud Management, Óscar Afonso, and by Mário Frota , from the Portuguese Association of Consumer Law.
In the letter, the five citizens point out that they made a "detailed analysis of the possible conflicts of interest of each deputy, according to the information made available" through the register of interests of the deputies, published on the website of the parliament.
“In a preliminary investigation, after consulting the information available on the parliament's website, we understand that situations that can be considered as real, potential or apparent conflict of interest are frequent, as defined in article 27 of the aforementioned Statute of Members. Deputies ”, they point out.
The letter also mentions that, in "several parliamentary committees", "situations in which conflicts of interest are possibly real, certainly potential, but undoubtedly apparent" were detected, and give examples.
“At the Commission for Economy, Innovation, Public Works and Housing, its chairman, António Topa [PSD], has interests in real estate companies, Epifei and Tocortal, as well as the vice-president, Pedro Coimbra [PS], who is a managing partner of the company DELTA 2014 ", claim the letter's authors, indicating that" the same commission belongs to Deputy Emídio Guerreiro [PSD], director of the construction company Garcia, Garcia, SA ".
Citizens argue that, “in their dual capacity as deputies and businessmen, these parliamentarians have access to privileged information in the sector, and can also influence legislation in the interests of the construction, mediation and property development sectors to which they are linked. ”.
“We also noticed that Mr. André Ventura [Chega] is part of the Budget and Finance Committee, who works for Finpartner, a subsidiary of the influential Caiado Guerreiro Group, which is dedicated to tax planning. Deputy Ventura will certainly collect privileged information on tax matters, of maximum interest to the clients of his company, which precisely provides advice on tax matters ”, they warn.
The letter also reads that “Deputy Paulo Rios de Oliveira [PSD] is a partner at Campo Grande, Comunicação e Marketing and is, at the same time, an effective member of the Communication and Culture Commission, where he can influence legislation in the designated area” .
The five citizens write to Eduardo Ferro Rodrigues that “the accumulation (even if legally) of functions in parliamentary committees that directly affect the business interests of the deputies raises questions about the integrity of the exercise of the mandate and about the risks of capture of the Assembly of the Assembly. Republic for the defense of sectoral or even personal interests ”.
For this reason, they urge the President of the Assembly of the Republic to request “the Commission of Transparency and Members' Statute that, in addition to the verification already carried out on incompatibilities and legal impediments, make the assessment of the abundant conflicts of interest that remain in the Assembly of the Republic” .
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Five citizens, including ex-candidates for the Presidency of the Republic, addressed a letter to the President of the Assembly of the Republic, in which they asked for “appreciation of the abundant conflicts of interest that remain” among the deputies.
The letter, sent this Sunday to the media, is signed by Paulo de Morais and Henrique Neto, by the president of the Transparency and Integrity Association, João Paulo Batalha, by the president of the Observatory of Economics and Fraud Management, Óscar Afonso, and by Mário Frota , from the Portuguese Association of Consumer Law.
In the letter, the five citizens point out that they made a "detailed analysis of the possible conflicts of interest of each deputy, according to the information made available" through the register of interests of the deputies, published on the website of the parliament.
“In a preliminary investigation, after consulting the information available on the parliament's website, we understand that situations that can be considered as real, potential or apparent conflict of interest are frequent, as defined in article 27 of the aforementioned Statute of Members. Deputies ”, they point out.
The letter also mentions that, in "several parliamentary committees", "situations in which conflicts of interest are possibly real, certainly potential, but undoubtedly apparent" were detected, and give examples.
“At the Commission for Economy, Innovation, Public Works and Housing, its chairman, António Topa [PSD], has interests in real estate companies, Epifei and Tocortal, as well as the vice-president, Pedro Coimbra [PS], who is a managing partner of the company DELTA 2014 ", claim the letter's authors, indicating that" the same commission belongs to Deputy Emídio Guerreiro [PSD], director of the construction company Garcia, Garcia, SA ".
Citizens argue that, “in their dual capacity as deputies and businessmen, these parliamentarians have access to privileged information in the sector, and can also influence legislation in the interests of the construction, mediation and property development sectors to which they are linked. ”.
“We also noticed that Mr. André Ventura [Chega] is part of the Budget and Finance Committee, who works for Finpartner, a subsidiary of the influential Caiado Guerreiro Group, which is dedicated to tax planning. Deputy Ventura will certainly collect privileged information on tax matters, of maximum interest to the clients of his company, which precisely provides advice on tax matters ”, they warn.
The letter also reads that “Deputy Paulo Rios de Oliveira [PSD] is a partner at Campo Grande, Comunicação e Marketing and is, at the same time, an effective member of the Communication and Culture Commission, where he can influence legislation in the designated area” .
The five citizens write to Eduardo Ferro Rodrigues that “the accumulation (even if legally) of functions in parliamentary committees that directly affect the business interests of the deputies raises questions about the integrity of the exercise of the mandate and about the risks of capture of the Assembly of the Assembly. Republic for the defense of sectoral or even personal interests ”.
For this reason, they urge the President of the Assembly of the Republic to request “the Commission of Transparency and Members' Statute that, in addition to the verification already carried out on incompatibilities and legal impediments, make the assessment of the abundant conflicts of interest that remain in the Assembly of the Republic” .