Liberals in new bid to force ‘urgent parliamentary hearing’ involving Luís Neves – Portugal Resident

IL, or Iniciativa Liberal – the country’s Liberal party, with just nine MPs – has today requested an urgent parliamentary hearing to include the Minister of Internal Administration, Luís Neves, the owner of Construbarcelos, João Carvalho, and the National Director of the Judicial Police, Carlos Cabreiro, as well as the current and former Ministers of Justice.

This request was formalised by the IL Parliamentary Group in a request addressed to the president of the Committee on Constitutional Affairs, Rights, Freedoms and Guarantees, PSD MP Paula Cardoso.

In this request the party does not specify any date, only asking for urgency in these hearings, but a source from the IL parliamentary group indicated to Lusa that the objective is for them to take place soon after the resumption of parliamentary work after the holidays, in September (which would coincide with the parliamentary inquiry CHEGA has said it will be forcing).

CHEGA had tried, and failed, to force an urgent hearing with Luís Neves during the summer recess.

IL justifies its request today with the “social alarm and the absence of complete and definitive clarifications” regarding the controversies surrounding the mandates of the current Minister of Internal Administration, Luís Neves, at the head of the Judiciary Police (PJ).

“At issue is, in particular, the clarification of the conditions under which a service provider of the Judiciary Police itself ended up carrying out works on private properties of the then National Director of the institution, and the circumstances in which a significant quantity of chemical precursors to drugs, previously seized, were delivered to that same service provider,” the party writes.

Liberals believe that “these issues have not been fully clarified to date” and that “the recent press conference by the then National Director of the Judicial Police, Dr. Luis Neves” fell “far short of clarifying these issues” and “increased public concern regarding the rigor of the procedures adopted by the institution.”

Therefore, IL requests a hearing with Minister Luís Neves (identified in the request only as the former national director of the PJ), his successor at the head of the PJ, Carlos Cabreiro, and João Carvalho, owner of Construbarcelos, the company at the center of the controversy.

Construbarcelos carried out works for the PJ (Judicial Police) when Luís Neves was national director, and also on the minister’s family property in Odemira. The company was also involved in controversy after a trailer containing drums of chemicals, seized in a drug trafficking case, was found on its premises.

The Liberals are also calling for the current Minister of Justice, Rita Alarcão Júdice, as well as her predecessor Catarina Sarmento e Castro, from the last PS government, to appear before Parliament.

IL has been critical of Minister Luís Neves, with party leader, Mariana Leitão, stating on Monday, after a meeting in Belém with the President of the Republic, that the controversies surrounding Minister Luís Neves’ past at the head of the PJ (Judicial Police) have contributed to a “degradation of institutions” and that the minister “is not suited for the position he holds”.

Leitão asked António José Seguro to “use his judicial influence to ensure that this continuous degradation of institutions is stopped and that we manage to guarantee the defence and safeguarding of our democratic system.”

Source material: LUSA