Interview SIC News
About the resignation of Hernâni Dias, João Paulo Batalha stresses that there was an embarrassment in the government. The vice president of the Civic Front states: “There was a conflict of interest here, we had a secretary of the state who was at the same time legislating about urbanism and making real estate companies.”
The Secretary of State for Local Administration and Planning of the Territory . The legislation But there are still proposals for change that will be debated with the government. Hernani Dias created two companies while preparing this law, companies that could benefit from new measures. The case raised ethical questions and doubts about conflict of interest. The announcement of the resignation was made PLO of the First Ministry, after the President of the PEPUBLIC said the decision was up to Luís Montenegro.
“We do not know exactly what the government’s opinion is because even resignation is announced in a note published on the Internet, the prime minister is not even close to his secretary of state. In fact, it is even a bit cold because it cuts the bonds with Hernani Dias and, at the same time, praises its detachment, when it was the Prime Minister himself who had detached him. “
This clearly shows that there was an embarrassment in the government, a very natural embarrassment, because there was a clear conflict of interest, we had a secretary of the state who was at the same time legislating over urbanism and doing real estate and urbanism companies, so it was at The same time dealing with public policy and private interest and therefore obviously if he continued was the whole government that would be fragile, “he says John Paul Battle.
The vice president of the Civic Front points to various criticisms of the whole process he creates, in his view, creates an embarrassment in the government.
“The first casualty of the new government that made corruption is caused by a case of suspicions of ethical misconduct and so we, from government to government, from majorities to majorities, time goes by and we learn nothing. It is alarming.
In the specific case of this law, not only this admission, but the news that the Express gave yesterday that one of the consultants, or eventually the main he is also a former secretary of the state, but of the PS, also has real estate business and therefore this law, all points out, was not truly written by legislators, was written by lobbyists and this is a structural problem in Portugal that this government, with his anti -corruption speech, he could not prevent, “he says João Paulo Batalha, in an interview at SIC Notícias.
