Marcelo’s former consultant denies having spoken to Lacerda Sales about the twins’ case: “he knows we don’t talk about it”
The former health advisor to the President of the Republic Mário Pinto denied having met with the former Secretary of State for Health António Lacerda Sales to talk about the case of the Portuguese-Brazilian twins.
Mário Pinto, who was heard for just over an hour in the parliamentary commission of inquiry into the case of the twins treated with one of the most expensive medicines in the world, was questioned by the PSD about Lacerda Sales having involved him and suggesting that the two were met on November 6, 2019 to talk about the case.
“I completely deny that. He knows we didn’t talk about it, because I didn’t know, I didn’t know [o caso]. We have a close relationship and it wasn’t nice to have said that”, he stated, arguing that Lacerda Sales “did not tell the truth on this matter”.
When questioned by the PS, he said he did not remember what issue was discussed at that meeting and, later on, in response to the CDS-PP, he indicated that he may have experienced the problems experienced in the emergency room at the time.
“Clearly it wasn’t about the twins”, he highlighted, indicating that he only found out about it when it was publicized by the media and that he also never spoke about the topic with Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa or his son.
Mário Pinto, who was a consultant at the Presidency of the Republic at the time of the events, in 2019, said that Lacerda Sales warned him of what he would do and that, in response, he asked “to tell the truth”.
Questioned by the PSD coordinator, Antonio Rodrigues, about Lacerda Sales’ motivations, the former consultant forwarded it to the former governor and said he did not know “what his idea was when he talked about it”.
Mário Pinto said he called him to question him about it, but “he didn’t answer”.
In a short initial intervention, the former consultant assured that he had “nothing to do with the subject” of the treatment of Portuguese-Brazilian children, who never asked him for anything nor did he know the interlocutors, with the exception of Lacerda Sales.
Regarding his duties at the Palácio de Belém, Mário Pinto indicated that he “liaised with the Government’s health area”, and that he met “every two months” with António Lacerda Sales to discuss “health strategies” and not dossiers individual.
Mário Pinto also admitted to having arranged an appointment for an employee at the Belém Palace.
The former consultant considered that the Presidency of the Republic is “a place with many secrets”, which he considered “normal”, as “what was done there was not to be disclosed”.
FM/JML // ACL
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