Fernando Medina considers that José Sócrates’ behavior and the suspicions of large receipts without explanations break “bonds of trust” and erode “our democratic life”. The statements were made tonight in his comment space on TVI24, in which the Mayor of Lisbon also took the opportunity to recall that it will be the “First time in our known history” that “we will have a former prime minister on trial for a crime in the performance of his duties”.
Breaking the silence that has been the rule within the PS since last Friday, in which Socrates was pronounced for crimes of money laundering and forgery of documents, Medina harshly criticized the former prime minister: “I am sorry to have to say this, but it is clear that there is a break in the bonds of trust when there are fundamental facts that someone who was Prime Minister received large amounts of money. Contrary to what was said, they did not result from personal or family wealth. Without any apparent justification, which he himself does not and understood he did not give during all these years, it is something that marks the feeling of well-being and trust in Portuguese society in an absolutely negative way ”.
And he made it clear that due to the lack of explanations, the behavior of José Sócrates, “erodes our democratic life”.
“Whoever is in public life, who respects public life, who feels the appeal, the mission and the dedication of the service and the public cause must honor, above all, this relationship of trust with those who elect him,” he said, adding : “You don’t have to be a saint, we are not on the pedestal of the saints, but we are on the pedestal of those who can honor that trust and that trust has been broken. That trust has been unavoidably broken and there needs to be no more dense or withdrawn crime. What we know is enough or better what has not been explained all this time is enough.”
