“I have instructed my lawyer to proceed with the appropriate criminal complaint,” stated Filipe Araújo in a personal communication to newsrooms, expressing his discontent with a “shameful” attack.
Araújo underscored that “politics should be guided by respect, dignity, and a commitment to truth,” affirming that he will “never be conditioned” and will uphold “transparency, rigor, and public service” principles.
“I do not yield to threats, slander, or false testimonies. In politics, not everything is permissible,” he emphasized.
At the session, available online, the PSD representative referred to three contracts of Associação Porto Digital, “of which the Porto City Hall is the majority shareholder and chaired by Filipe Araújo,” questioning whether “municipal funds might be channeled for electoral propaganda, especially considering the individuals involved with the association.”
During the Municipal Assembly, Araújo accused the PSD deputy of “serving someone else’s interests.”
“A vile intervention. The deputy isn’t qualified to be seated where he is. Keep quiet when I’m speaking. Do not address me in that manner; stay calm. If you have doubts, you were elected, put forth your questions, and they will be answered. Most of the insinuations you made, you know the answers to. An indecorous intervention. If you’re here serving someone, bring that person to talk to me rather than performing tasks here,” responded the city’s vice-president.
Today, Filipe Araújo considered Rodrigo Passos’s intervention on Monday to be “filled with imputations and insinuations, produced entirely inappropriately and against the agenda set for the Assembly.”
The local official believes the PSD/Porto deputy’s statements were “a vile ‘ad hominem’ attack, designed solely to demean and cast the most despicable doubts and suspicions, entirely unfounded,” harming his “honor and regard,” and impinging on his “good name.”
As a result, he claims they caused “damage and harm” to his “personal, family, and professional life.”
“It was apparent that the PSD municipal deputy had no intention of clarifying or being clarified, using his intervention space solely to attack my character and the conduct of the municipal executive,” expressed the vice-president under the leadership of Rui Moreira (an independent).
Filipe Araújo also mentioned having sent on Wednesday to the city council’s president “all information regarding communication and marketing contracts of Associação Porto Digital through a detailed report,” as well as to councilors and leaders of municipal groups.
On Tuesday, Rodrigo Passos announced he would request an audit of Porto Digital’s contracts to ascertain if they were used for the “propaganda” of the city’s vice-president, Filipe Araújo, who lamented the “character attack.”
“In the coming days, I will submit a formal request for the audit to the city council,” stated Rodrigo Passos to Lusa, refraining from providing further details on the intervention made in the Porto Municipal Assembly on Monday, which Filipe Araújo labeled as “vile” and “indecorous.”
Rodrigo Passos highlighted three contracts of the association, totaling more than 110,000 euros, with LPM, Comunicação, Marquinista, and Freitas e Próspero, questioning “whether such intense and high-profile advisory for an association, which never received such a level of investment in the past, is natural and reasonable.”
