Case of the twins: Costa guarantees that he was not aware of the involvement of members of the government and that he found out about the case through the media
Former Prime Minister António Costa guaranteed that he was not aware of the involvement of any member of the government in the case of the Portuguese-Brazilian twins, according to the responses sent to the commission of inquiry and to which Lusa had access today.
“I was not aware of the involvement of any member of the Government in this case. […] I was not aware of the involvement of any member of the Government in this case”, stated the former government official, after Chega questioned him about the alleged “action of other members of the Government”.
António Costa clarified to the parliamentary commission of inquiry that the Government “acted diligently to investigate what happened through the Ministry of Health entity with competence for this purpose, IGAS [Inspeção-Geral das Atividades em Saúde]”, doing “what he was supposed to do and when he was supposed to”.
In response only to Chega, which was the only party to insist on asking for clarification, the former prime minister recalled that he became aware of the case through the media in November 2023.
“I only became aware of the case when it was announced by TVI. On November 5th [de 2023] an inspection process was initiated by the General Inspectorate of Health Activities, the conclusions of which were delivered to the Government on April 1 [de 2024]the day before the day I left office as Prime Minister”, he highlighted.
In the answers written on three pages, Antonio Costa recalled that there is a process opened by the Public Ministry, considering that the work must be respected.
“I respectfully await, as is my responsibility, the full investigation of the facts and their political assessment and legal qualification, respectively, by this parliamentary committee and the competent authorities, within the scope of the ongoing criminal process”, he highlighted.
To Lusa, the president of the commission of inquiry into the case of the twins, Rui Paulo Sousa, confirmed that the responses were received by the commission today and will be made available on the website of the Assembly of the Republic like the previous ones.
On October 16, Chega was the only one to request further clarification from António Costa, with the other parties deciding not to ask new questions through the parliamentary commission of inquiry.
Contacted by the Lusa agency, PSD, PS, IL, BE, PCP, Livre, CDS-PP and PAN said they would not present new questions to António Costa within the scope of the parliamentary commission of inquiry into the case of Portuguese-Brazilian twins who received a medicine of millions of euros.
Chega decided to potentially call the former prime minister to the commission of inquiry, after António Costa responded in writing to the first round of questions. The former governor, who is not obliged to respond personally, indicated that he would respond in writing to the questions sent to him.
Chega’s new questions came after the party leader, André Ventura, said last month that the answers sent by former prime minister António Costa to parliament left “many questions in the air” and were “ineffective and incomplete”.
At the beginning of September, the parliamentary commission of inquiry into the case of the twins treated at Santa Maria Hospital asked questions to the leader of the previous Government, wanting to know if he had any intervention in this case.
