President of Transparency says that the entity “does not have an investigative nature to lead to sanctions”

Amid some controversy after former Secretary of State Hernâni Dias stated that he had the approval to be a partner in real estate agencies , after cases of apparent conflict of interest were known and Chega argued that the Entity for Transparency should force the Prime Minister to reveal the clients of his company Spinumviva, the president of the entity argued this Tuesday that the institution “does not have powers to apply sanctions or of an investigative nature to lead to sanctions”, and that it is only “an administrative entity and not a criminal police body”.

Speaking at the Assembly of the Republic at the conference on the status of political office holders, Ana Raquel Moniz admitted that it is “impossible” for the EpT to assess inaccuracies, omissions or increases in income and assets because it “does not have access to other instruments for controlling wealth”. As reported by PÚBLICO, the entity only has access to the information that politicians declare to it and to open public data .

When asked by journalists about the verification of single declarations, especially that of Luís Montenegro, Ana Raquel Moniz said that the entity is "verifying [in a chronological manner] the single declarations of all the holders and, therefore, naturally, also that of the Prime Minister". Of the 2,596 declarations submitted to the platform since the beginning of March last year, the president once again gave the same statistics that she had given two months ago in Parliament: the verification of 25% had been completed and some reports (which she did not wish to specify) had been made to the Public Prosecutor's Office. The official insisted on the idea that when one speaks of the power to monitor and sanction politicians who do not comply with their reporting obligations, one is "demanding [of the EpT] something that the law does not require".

In the same panel, speaking about the amendment, approved in general terms, which provides that holders of political and public office will be automatically notified of the identity of anyone who consults their statements, constitutionalist Tiago Fidalgo de Freitas warned that the rule proposed by the PSD risks being unconstitutional because it reveals the personal data of anyone who requested access – be it an anonymous citizen, journalist or even someone from an opposition party. To those who counter with the circumstance that the politician is in a position of greater vulnerability and exposure and therefore has the right to know, he responds that this is a “complete bias of all logic” and that the law imposes the “obligation of transparency” on politicians and high-ranking public officials by virtue of the functions they perform.

The president of Transparency and Integrity, Margarida Mano, argued that the EpT must have access to public databases to cross-reference information and that single declarations “must be scrutinized”, lamenting that the law “is failing to respond” to cases of lack of monitoring of incompatibilities and conflicts of interest that are appearing in the public square. Guilherme Silva, former PSD deputy, recommended “caution, restraint and balance” regarding the possible tightening of the incompatibilities and impediments regime. Because, he pointed out, “serious politicians are not made by decree and those who are not serious always have ways of getting around the law through frontmen, without falling into the net” of these rules.

Automatic warning risks unconstitutionality

In the morning, during a panel on the code of conduct for members of parliament, former parliamentarian Paulo Trigo Pereira argued that sanctions should be foreseen and applied to members of parliament who violate the so-called rules of “civility” in the plenary – who use “unacceptable words and expressions” – in order to halt the process of “degradation” that has been seen in political discourse. Contrary to the thesis of “freedom of expression” and that sanctions should be imposed by voters at the polls, as defended by Aguiar-Branco, the former deputy refused to wait four years to change and suggested that the concepts of what cannot be said should be “densified”, and that sanctions existing in other countries should be studied, from reprimand and expulsion from the plenary to salary cuts and suspension of office. “It should be where it hurts.”

For his part, transparency researcher Luís de Sousa suggested that disciplinary powers be created for the Transparency Commission, under whose auspices the working group on the code of conduct already operates – but the idea was not very well received by PSD and PS.

Researcher and constitutionalist Mariana Melo Egídio warned that the review of the code of conduct must include a “gradual logic” in sanctions and comply with proportionality criteria. And, looking further into the future, she argued that it is also necessary to consider including rules for the use of social networks by MPs in the code of conduct.