The Constitution as a defendant was automatically when the opening of the instructions was accepted
Mariana Mortágua was already accused, on April 6, in relation to the amount of support for herself as a deputy of the fee for her comment on the television, on SIC Notícias, according to CNN Portugal.
The process was previously kept by the Department of Criminal Investigation, but a citizen who filed a complaint with the Public Prosecutor’s Office requested the opening of the investigation at the Supreme Court of Criminal Investigation to challenge the kept information. According to said Public At the time, the citizen’s lawyer, Luís Gonçalves Pereira, was on Chega’s list in last year’s legislative elections.
From now on, the law as a defendant will be automatic, and Mariana Mortágua has now been notified of this.
The charges in question in this case would be fraud and receiving improper privileges, after obtaining, from October 2020, the special support of the Assembly of the Republic and paying for the comments on the television that he gave, at a time that was already prohibited by the opinion of the Transparency Commission, which explained that this type of agreement was allowed, but could not to be paid.
The deputy from the Bloco de Esquerda then returned the money he had received for five months, and then began to explain the politics in power. pro bono. This led the Transparency and Statute of Deputies to close the case.
It should be noted that paid contracts with written journalists are allowed, because they are considered “revenues that appear from copyright”. A different situation is that of regular contracts with paid television stations, as is the case here, and which are not considered part of the copyright regime, and therefore do not correspond to the exclusive rights of representatives.
This was the end of the recommendations of the Transparency Commission, which was approved in February 2020, before Mariana Mortágua began to cooperate with the SIC. The deputy defended himself by saying that he did not know what was in the proposal.
Failure to comply with the inconsistent provisions of the Statute of Deputies and the Remuneration Statute of Holders of Political Offices is punishable by loss of office.
Bloco throws “political persecution” at Chega
Fonte do Bloco de Esquerda said, in CNN Portugal, that “this is another part of the political persecution that Mariana Mortágua is being investigated”, remembering that “the plan was already presented by the Ministry of the People”.
“The path of the lawyers involved in the process is self-evident: the first is a lawyer arrested four times for defrauding clients, the second was one of Chega’s nominees in the last election,” adds the same source.
CNN Portugal contacted Mariana Mortágua, but she has not yet responded.
Note: A statement was prepared at 1:16 p.m., describing the cases that may be involved and the information filed by the Department of Criminal Investigation.