Miguel Arruda, left
Chega deputy Miguel Arruda informed the party leader today that he became an independent deputy, after being accused of stealing bags at Lisbon airport, a source close to the parliamentarian told Lusa.
After the controversy broke out about the airport, the deputy Miguel Arruda do Chega becomes independent.
According to , this decision was equally “independent”. Miguel Arruda took it, before talking to André Ventura.
According to a Lusa source, Miguel Arruda declares himself innocent, denies the accusations against him and assumes as an “individual decision” to become a non-registered deputy, to safeguard his defense conditions in the judicial process, as he considers “easier to prove innocence without leading the party behind”.
The decision will be announced to the leader of Chega in a meeting scheduled for 5pm this Thursday, in which the deputy only intends to communicate this intention, not foreseeing a long meeting. But André Ventura defended today that, if Miguel Arruda’s explanations are not satisfactory, the deputy should suspend or resign from his mandate.
André Ventura spoke to journalists at the Assembly of the Republic, before meeting with Arruda: he does not accept “half-way paths”.
“If the explanations are not sufficient, if the explanations are not acceptable, then There are one of two ways: the suspension of the mandate or the resignation of his mandate”, he defended.
According to the same source, the deputy understands that he should not resign to his mandate in the Assembly of the Republic (AR), implying that he is guilty when he considers himself innocent.
Do you still want request the waiver of your parliamentary immunity this Thursday to the president of the AR, José Pedro Aguiar-Branco, to be able to clarify, with the authorities, the facts of which he is accused.
The deputy can only be heard after lifting parliamentary immunity.
A source close to the deputy also stated, to the Lusa agency, that Miguel Arruda intends to remain linked to the partyguaranteeing that he “continues to be Chega and a faithful defender of the party”.
