Galamba reiterates his innocence and says he only regrets having “kept” Frederico Pinheiro | Operation Influencer

João Galamba gave this Friday the first interview since the beginning of the Operation Influencerin which he is accused, stating that he has a “clear conscience” regarding suspicions of embezzlement, malfeasance and undue advantage: “I know what I did, what I didn’t do and I know how this process will end — or with the filing of the charge or I will be acquitted.”

In an interview with CNN, conducted by journalist André Carvalho Ramos, the former Minister of Infrastructure revealed that he has not yet been heard by the courts nor has he been able to consult the process. “It would be tempting to ride on recent news that is very favorable to me, but I won’t do it, I won’t defend myself on television, because there is its own headquarters and out of respect for the institutions”, he explained, when asked about his possible involvement in corruption crimes.

João Galamba wanted to focus on a “very unfortunate statement” by Luís Montenegro at the informal Council of Ministers that took place in Óbidos at the beginning of April. “There is an issue that is raised in the process and that was used for political purposes by the current prime minister, that is what I will talk about.”

The former minister recalled that Luís Montenegro admitted the creation of a code of ethics to avoid “Galamba cases” and described the head of Government’s words as “purely populist”. “The current Prime Minister has never held executive functions, therefore, some ignorance in this matter could be excused, but he is a jurist and has an obligation to know the law, and the law is clear”, recognizing the right of members of the Government to personal use of State vehicles.

“All the uses I made were in the exact terms of the law and always for the benefit of my functions, if not in the exercise of my functions”, he assured, giving as examples his use to “go, with the drivers, to pick up his daughters from school ” or “take them to doctor’s appointments.”

Still on the most recent news about the process, which João Galamba considers “quite favorable” and the consequent pressure on the Attorney General of the Republic, he took a clear position: the request to hear Lucília Gago in Parliament should not move forward. “The prosecutor is not answerable to Parliament, but to the Portuguese. If she understands that she must speak and give explanations, she must do so; if she does not do so, the Portuguese will make their judgment about what is happening and about the prosecutor- general of the Republic.”

“I wouldn’t have done anything different”

Exactly one year ago, on April 26, 2023, Frederico Pinheiro, former deputy to the then Minister of Infrastructure, returned to the Ministry where he worked to collect his service computer. This was followed by the intervention of the Security Information System (SIS), the false alarm for the end of João Galamba’s mandate, the first major clash between António Costa and Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, a parliamentary commission of inquiry into TAP taken by that night of the 26th.

In retrospect, João Galamba guarantees that he “wouldn’t have done anything differently”, nor would he have left the Government sooner. “The only thing I would have done differently, if I could, was a few months earlier not to have kept deputy Frederico Pinheiro, against whom I filed a criminal complaint, as minister, for assault and robbery.”

Regarding the impact of this case on the relationship between António Costa and Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, the former Minister of Infrastructure admitted that “it may have been the cause of a certain displeasure of the President of the Republic”, adding immediately afterwards that it did not ” no evaluative judgment on this fact”.

Galamba also recognized the support, first political, then personal, of Luís Montenegro’s predecessor, and claimed to maintain a good relationship with António Costa. The same does not seem to happen with the current secretary general of the Socialist Party, Pedro Nuno Santos, at whom the former ruler threw barbs.

The separation between the two, according to the account, is not recent, limiting themselves to describing the connection between the two as that of a “leader and activist” of the same party. “If you ask me if I would think it was normal to have received any signal after the police entered my house on the day of the searches, on November 7th? Yes, but I didn’t. I haven’t spoken to him since the beginning of May 2023.”

João Galamba ended by appealing to the Attorney General’s Office to “do its job, do it well and, above all, do it quickly”.