The former Belem health adviser confirms the meeting but denies talking about the twins, despite admitting he called the presidency a “house of secrets.”
Lacerda Sales, former secretary of the Department of Health, met with Mario Pinto, then-government official Nuno Rebelo de Sousa, adviser to President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa. The twins’ case comes at a time when the family faces opposition from Santa Maria Hospital to schedule the babies’ first visit.
Confirmation of this meeting was written by Lacerta Sales himself in a response to the Public Health Action Survey (IGAS), in which he did not include this comment in his report on the case.
The responses of Lacerta Sales, which CNN Portugal’s Exclusivo da TVI, the same group, had full access to, spoke specifically in a meeting with Mario Pinto, Belém’s adviser on health matters, the day before the meeting with Nuno Rebelo de Souza.
When asked in writing by IGAS whether he had been “contacted by the Civil House of the President in the context” of the twins’ case, Lacerda Sales replied “I cannot mention this specific purpose or situation, however, there were several meetings with the Deputy of the Civil House regarding several health issues, the first of which was November 6, 2019”, i.e. the day before the meeting with Marcelo’s son.
The former Secretary of State was not clear about whether he had spoken about the twins’ case in his responses to IGAS, but in a follow-up question, “If yes [falaram sobre o caso das gémeas?]Who is the interlocutor of these communications?”, Lacerda Sales apparently mentions Mario Pinto by name.
TVI found that Lacerta Sales, in fact, wanted to reveal that it had spoken to this consultant from Belém about the twins.
Recall that after the first TVI report, it took Lacerda Sales almost two months to admit that she had met with Nuno Rebelo de Sousa to talk about the twins.
Former adviser denies talk of twins
Mário Pinto, the former health adviser of Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, the target of the response to the Lacerda sale, agreed to answer TVI exclusively and guaranteed that he never spoke to the former Secretary of State about the twins.
Mario Pinto, insisting that he was a good friend of the sale and admitting that he had been with him several times at the time, said, “That’s not true” – “This matter was never in my possession” he said “Dr. Maria Jono Rula”; “I did not know it”.
From what he has learned about the twins’ story, Marcelo’s former adviser, Nuno Rebelo de Sousa, admits he doesn’t understand how the public prosecutor’s office didn’t investigate those responsible for the presidency, believing the actions should not go unnoticed. By Marcelo.
“This cannot happen without the approval of the President.”
“Moreover, with the president’s son, things had a different weight, didn’t they?”, says Mario Pinto, who adds: “I don’t think it can happen without the approval of the president of the republic. I think that’s the only thing that makes sense.”
Asked if there was a wedge in his time and if he was surprised by the duo’s case, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa’s former advisor said, “No. [me] No surprises, absolutely nothing.”
“Things like arranging an appointment”, continues Belam’s former adviser, “is a normal thing, I still do, if someone asks me for an appointment, now I ask the person who is hoping to ask for an appointment, the involvement of the hospital in this case, etc., I don’t know that.
“House of Secrets”
Regarding his experience with Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa in health matters, Mario Pinto diagnoses: “That house is a house with many secrets, I even call it ‘House of Secrets’ because there were many small things, many fights. No way, but that’s it, but that’s how all the processes were there,” concludes the former advisor to the President.
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