“To be as clear as possible, without mental reservations, if a prime minister, regardless of stability, even with an absolute majority, is suspected of corruption, cannot explain these suspicions, and the information provided to the President of the Republic is that these suspicions are serious, substantiated, and with strong indicators, then I believe that, in this case, with a serious corruption suspicion, we should dissolve the Assembly of the Republic and call the country to elections”, affirms the candidate for Belém in an interview.
Ventura admits that, in the face of new elections, the country could renew trust in the same prime minister, creating “an institutional drama for a President of the Republic”.
“I have an active, energetic profile, and that is how I expect to be until the end of my life. And, therefore, if I had to act in a case of corruption, I would act. But I will be as considered as possible to ensure I do not plunge the country into instability”, he assures.
The Chega leader refers to an abstract scenario, despite his starting point being the case of the former company of the prime minister, Luís Montenegro, which he passed on to his children after media controversy led the Public Prosecutor’s Office to open a preliminary inquiry still without known results.
André Ventura considers that, in the Spinumviva case, above all “this prime minister has lacked” explanations.
“The Spinumviva case has serious characteristics due to the suspicions, I am not saying they are real or not, but the suspicions, in short, of receiving money, etc. That is serious. If I were President of the Republic and the process were to develop as it might and the Public Prosecutor’s Office decides to advance with an inquiry, which means that the prime minister will be made a defendant, I think it was important, and that is what I will say to the prime minister, to provide explanations not only in court but also to the country”, he specified, adding: “I will assess the sustainability of these statements in terms of their reasonableness and the credibility they deserve”.
“I am not the judge, of course, but it is the President of the Republic, in office at that moment, who must speak a word of confidence or understand that the institutions are at stake and should not continue”, he argues.
“I have many criticisms of the current prime minister, but I can have a conversation with the prime minister. I think I could tell the prime minister ‘these are serious suspicions, what the prime minister has to do is explain them and provide an explanation about them’ and demand that he do so”, he adds.
Ventura considers that “it would be possible” to bring the prime minister forward and avoid “a scenario of permanent deterioration”.
If it came “to a point, well, that the prime minister were, like other political actors, accused, there are even legal procedures that are appropriate, but if the suspicions were condensed, evident, and notorious, then I think it would not even be necessary to tell the prime minister to leave; I think he would leave on his own”.
“If I become President of the Republic, I hope it never happens and see no reason for it, and there is an accusation against me for corruption, embezzlement of public money, illegal enrichment, I myself, upon seeing that there were substantiated and real things, would have no other way but to leave and step down”, concludes André Ventura.
Current appointment system “raises doubts of independence and impartiality”
During the interview, the candidate questioned the appointment system for state institutions and public companies, suggesting they should be reconsidered, including the case of the attorney general, despite expressing respect for the current officeholder, Amadeu Guerra.
“But when we have a system that appoints the attorney general, and it is this attorney general, then, who will investigate who appointed him, it is always a fragile system and always a system that raises doubts about independence and impartiality”, he argues, claiming the same applies to the holders of the superior courts and the Constitutional Court.
“It makes sense that the court that controls the political parties, and I am at ease because we are even the second-largest party, could be interested in keeping this as it is, derives from these very political parties. Shouldn’t we think about this as a whole, from the point of view of ensuring the independence and impartiality of these people? Could it be the President?”, he questions, concluding: “I think we need to rethink a system that provides guarantees of less political interference”.
