The Prime Minister said today that he was hurt by the way he was involved in a judicial inquiry, expressed confidence that he would emerge scot-free and questioned whether other officials would now maintain the decisions they made.
These allusions to the President of the Republic and the Attorney General of the Republic were conveyed by António Costa in statements to CNN Portugal, at the official residence of São Bento, in Lisbon, before participating in the parliamentary debate that precedes the next European summit.
According to António Costa, the inclusion of a paragraph in the statement from the press office of the Attorney General of the Republic, specifying that the Prime Minister was being investigated by the Supreme Court of Justice, "was decisive" in having requested his resignation on November 7th.
«Whoever performs the functions of prime minister cannot be under official suspicion. I've often been asked: what if there hadn't been that paragraph? Well, I was wondering. I had asked the President of the Republic that morning for a meeting at 9:30 am, I would consider it", declared António Costa.
If this paragraph had not existed, the leader of the executive admitted that, “he would probably wait for the conclusion of the assessment by the investigating judge of the evidence that existed”.
«Now, faced with a statement in which a person, who is not just any person, is the Attorney General of the Republic, intends to officially communicate to the country and the world that, in addition to everything else, a case has been opened against the Prime Minister, I have a duty that transcends my personal dimension. There is an institutional dimension to the role of prime minister,” she explained.
In this sense, António Costa reiterated that he would have done exactly the same today, choosing to resign. Next, he suggested that the same question be asked to the Attorney General of the Republic and Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.
«What we can do is ask whoever made the statement, whoever made the subsequent decision to dissolve the Assembly of the Republic, if they would do the same given what they know today», he said.
When asked if he was angry at the way he was involved in this legal process, the Prime Minister replied that he was not angry, but noted: "if you ask me if I'm hurt, I am."
«Whoever doesn't feel is not the son of good people. No one has ever questioned my integrity, my honesty. No one after a lifetime likes to be put in this position,” he said.
Next, he claimed “a big advantage” in these types of situations.
«If I have a very firm conviction, it is in the justice system, which is very original, which has no parallel, but where citizens can have guarantees and confidence: it is that no one is above the law. If you ask me if I think it's normal for it to be publicized, without acts being carried out, the person's good repute is something that justice must reflect. I have no doubt what the end of the story is. I know that I didn't have any benefits, any undue benefits, other than the salary paid to me», he stressed.
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