IL criticizes the Government’s “recklessness” and “blunder” regarding the former assistant to the Minister of Finance and the reduction of the IRS

“The person in question was a deputy, it is known that he has had the legal issue for some years and It is somewhat surprising that this AD Government does not take the necessary precautions to avoid getting involved in the beginning of these types of issues”, said Rui Rocha in statements to journalists on the sidelines of a visit to Sagal Expo – Portuguese Flavors Export Fair, at the Lisbon International Fair (FIL).

For the liberal leader, Luís Montenegro’s Executive once again demonstrates some “recklessness”, calling for the prevention of this type of behavior in the future with a view to avoiding cases similar to those of the previous socialist Government. “How is it that, with the legal issues being known, prior screening was not carried out. Or they knew, and I believe they knew, because the case is public, and they devalued it. Which makes little sense, and then they backtrack at this point when the news is public [no “Correio da Manhã”]”, he insisted, although underlining the former deputy’s principle of innocence.

Rocha also regretted the absence of the Minister of Finance in the AR – who will be replaced by the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Pedro Duarte – in the urgent debate requested by the PS on the reduction of the IRS, considering that Miranda Sarmento should be the main person interested in the “definitive” clarification. ” of the controversy. The government official will be in Washington, USA, to participate in an IMF meeting.

“Clear critic [a ausência], because it would be an excellent opportunity to clarify what remains to be clarified. I would even say that a lot needs to be clarified and I think that the Minister of Finance should really want to have this opportunity to provide clarifications in the right place, Parliament”, he noted.

Stating that the Government has reiterated that it did not want to lie to the Portuguese regarding the reduction in the IRS, Rocha even accepts this argument, which could be a question of “semantics”, but criticizes the lack of explanations so far. “One thing is certain, I didn’t want to clarify. I had the opportunity to ask the PM about the extent of the IRS reduction, deputy Bernardo Blanco also had that opportunity and neither the PM nor the Minister of Finance wanted to clarify. It would be useful if the Minister of Finance definitely wanted to clarify how much we are really talking about, what the instruments for the descent are, what the timetables are”, he reinforced.

And he insisted that IL has been warning since August about the “insufficiency” and “little ambition” of the AD’s electoral proposal and now of the Government’s fiscal program, since the review of the value of the levels could fluctuate in some cases between 5 at 10 euros. “As I say about a mess regarding the Deputy Minister of Finance, this is another huge mess in which this AD Government”, he concludes.

Faced with the controversy, the Prime Minister only guaranteed on Monday, in Madrid, that the Executive “is committed to fulfilling what it promised” in the campaign regarding the reduction of the IRS.