Lisbon, Sept. 20, 2024 (Lusa) - The Portuguese parliament on Friday unanimously approved the opinion of the transparency committee in favour of lifting parliamentary immunity of Fernando Medina, a Socialist MP, former finance minister and former mayor of Lisbon, in the context of the "Tutti Frutti" trial.
At the end of July, Fernando Medina himself announced that, through a communication from parliament, he had learnt that the public prosecutor's office had requested that he be heard as an official suspect in the inquiry known as the ‘Tutti Frutti’ case. Since 2018, the investigation has been looking into alleged favouritism towards Socialist Party (PS) and Social Democratic Party (PSD) activists through public contracts.
The former Lisbon mayor is suspected of committing an alleged offence of malfeasance. At issue is the allegedly improper allocation, while mayor of Lisbon, on 23 March 2017, of financial support worth €200,000 - to be paid out over two years - to XV Friends of Belém Rugby Association, as part of support for sports associations.
Following the public prosecutor's inquiry, the former mayor of Lisbon (2015-2021) immediately asked the Parliamentary Transparency Commission to lift his parliamentary immunity ‘as soon as possible’.
Fernando Medina then said that he hoped that, ‘for the first time in so many years’, he would now have ‘the opportunity to clarify in a proper forum the doubts that the public prosecutor has about the support that was granted by the municipal executive to a Lisbon sports club.
‘I have seen with perplexity that the public prosecutor's reasoning is based on a gross and inexplicable error. According to the law, the mayor cannot grant support to clubs, associations and other cultural, sporting, social, recreational or other organisations,’ wrote Fernando Medina.
Fernando Medina countered that this responsibility "is, according to the Legal Framework for Local Authorities (...) an exclusive and non-delegable power of the executive body of the municipality, which is the city council".
In his reply, the former minister mayor of Lisbon also pointed out that ‘the proposals submitted for deliberation by the city council executive are prepared by the municipal services and evaluated by a significant number of people, from all parties, before being presented to the council meeting for consideration and voting’.
‘This procedure is designed to ensure the most thorough scrutiny, so that all proposals put to the vote scrupulously comply with the law and applicable regulations. This was the case with the proposal to support XV - Friends of Belém Rugby Association, which, after being analysed and assessed by the entire municipal executive, was unanimously approved by the councillors elected by all political parties. Without exception,’ emphasised Fernando Medina He then asked the following question: ‘On what basis does the public prosecutor invoke any illegality in the city council's act?’
Fernando Medina also pointed out that, ‘in the same period - and in the context of preparing Lisbon as the European Capital of Sport - support was given to several other rugby clubs and associations in the city, namely Direito, CDUL and Rugby São Miguel, fulfilling a general objective of strengthening the conditions for the development of this sport’
‘How can you invoke favouritism towards a particular institution when most of those that promote the practice of rugby have been supported?’ he asked.
Fernando Medida also pointed out that ‘more than seven years have passed since this inquiry began’.
‘During this very long period, despite my repeated availability and willingness, at no time did the public prosecutor consider it relevant to hear me for any purpose, namely to search for the truth. It is doing so now, in this way. During these more than seven years, hundreds of news stories have been published, dozens of hours of television and radio broadcasts have been broadcast and hundreds of thousands of references have been posted on social networks, with content that is offensive to my honour and good name. At no time did the public prosecutor deign to provide any clarification or take any other action due to the preservation of my honour and good name,’ he added.
On 21 June, parliament also unanimously approved the lifting of parliamentary immunity of PSD MPs Luís Newton, Carlos Eduardo Reis and Margarida Saavedra, all three of whom are also under suspicion in the "Tutti-Frutti" case.
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