A letter addressed to the president of the Assembly of the Republic, the parliamentary leaders of various parties, and individual deputies has been sent by Ana Jorge, João Correia, Sérgio Cintra, and Teresa do Passo. They urge the urgent establishment of a new Commission of Inquiry (CPI) into the Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Lisboa (SCML) to continue the investigations and hearings initiated by the previous commission.
The members of the board of SCML, dismissed by the Minister of Labor, Solidarity and Social Security, Maria do Rosário Palma Ramalho, in April 2024, claim “irreparable damage to their honor and good personal and professional reputation.”
They argue that the Assembly of the Republic is the “appropriate institutional venue to assess the political responsibilities involved, ascertain the facts and circumstances proving the falsehood of the grounds for their dismissal, and restore the truth.”
They request that “as soon as possible,” a new parliamentary inquiry committee be established to investigate the strategic and financial management and political oversight of SCML, a measure unanimously decided upon on July 31, 2024, but dissolved following the dissolution of the Assembly of the Republic.
“This request arises mainly because all the reasons cited by the minister in the dismissal order are unfounded and, in our opinion, illegal,” states the letter dated October 21, accessed by Lusa.
The letter further claims that the reasons cited by Minister Maria do Rosário Palma Ramalho are unfounded because, objectively, the alleged vague and poorly defined arguments she resorted to are false, without even dignifying the signatories with a hearing, as would be ethically and legally required.
They allege the minister’s statements, made both in the Assembly of the Republic and in various media outlets, are “false.”
“False and irreparably offensive to the good name and honor of professionals whose careers deserved at least personal and institutional respect from a member of the Government of the Republic,” they state in the letter.
According to the four former members of the SCML board, these statements “not only significantly harmed SCML’s image with the public but also misrepresented SCML’s real situation and its background, possibly for the benefit of future more generous evaluations.”
On June 21, 2024, the Assembly of the Republic approved the establishment of a parliamentary inquiry committee into the management of SCML after Chega, the Liberal Initiative, and the Left Bloc individually presented three proposals in this regard.
The parliamentary inquiry committee was set to investigate the strategic and financial management decisions of the institution over the past 13 years, starting with the tenure of Santana Lopes, and seek to “establish political responsibilities.”
