During a luncheon rally in Olhão, attended by Socialist Party leader Pedro Nuno Santos, the head of the PS list for the Faro district, Jamila Madeira, remarked, “I would like to recall the recent words of the former Prime Minister and former President of the Republic Aníbal Cavaco Silva. He, in a mix of amnesia and narcissistic self-contemplation, claims to compare Montenegro to himself, emphasizing that he did not violate any ethical principles and that everything is in the private sphere.”
In response to what she termed “such amnesia,” Jamila Madeira reminded those present that Aníbal Cavaco Silva “is the only shareholder of Banco Português de Negócios (BPN) who bought outside the stock exchange and sold outside the stock exchange, far above the market rate, leaving a loss of six billion euros for the Portuguese people to bear.”
“This was the President of the Republic who, 15 days before the resolution of Banco Espírito Santo (BES), guaranteed 100% quality assurance for Portuguese citizens to invest in that bank’s capital increase. It is now known that Cavaco Silva, Passos Coelho, and Maria Luís Albuquerque were aware, more than two months prior, that BES was toxic and would be a disastrous investment for humble Portuguese citizens,” emphasized the economist and former Socialist State Secretary.
She continued: “Indeed, it suffices to recall some of these episodes to understand the ethical parallels we are discussing. This is what Professor Aníbal Cavaco Silva is referring to.”
Former President Aníbal Cavaco Silva argued on Monday, in an opinion piece published in the online newspaper Observador, that the Prime Minister was the target of a “campaign of suspicions and insinuations” by the opposition and “some media,” largely focused on the invasion of his private life.
Cavaco Silva further defended the ethical and moral stance of Prime Minister and PSD President Luís Montenegro, as well as his technical and political superiority over other party leaders. He drew a parallel between the no-confidence motion rejected by the parliament and one he himself also presented, which was approved in 1986.
