Former secretary of state denies conflict of interest
Hernâni Dias said in Parliement that he had communicated with the Transparency Authority to find out if his position allowed the creation of the companies that led to his resignation.
On Tuesday, the former secretary of state for Local Administration, Hernâni Dias, rejected any conflict of interest in setting up two companies while in office, emphasising that none of them had any activity related to the “land law”.
In parliament, Hernâni Dias emphasised that he saw “no problem” in setting up the two companies, in which he does not have a majority shareholding nor is he a managing partner.
He also emphasised that none of the companies has any activity related to the “land law”. He said that “the main objective [of the companies] was to rehabilitate and exploit the tourist activity of two houses”.
Hernâni Dias, who was heard at the request of the Left Bloc in the Local Government and Territorial Cohesion Committee, also said in this first intervention that he had acted “in good faith, with fairness and transparency” and that he had communicated with the Transparency Authority to find out if his position allowed the creation of the company.
He replied that it did, explaining only that Hernâni Dias could not hold the majority of the company’s share capital or be a managing partner—two conditions that did not cover his position in the companies.
“I was very concerned about strictly complying with the law, and I didn’t see any problems in setting up the companies, just as the Transparency Authority didn’t, and I can also say that it was not, is not and will not be the object of these companies to deal with anything that has to do with rustic buildings to be transformed into urban buildings,” he said.
Hernâni Dias was replying to Joana Mortágua, a bloc member, who opened the questions as a requester for the hearing of the former Secretary of State and questioned the ex-governor about his participation in the drafting of the amendment to the land law and his motives for setting up companies while in government.
RTP reported that Hernâni Dias had set up two companies that could benefit from the new land law and that he was the secretary of state of the ministry responsible for these changes.
A week earlier, the same television channel reported that Hernâni Dias was being investigated by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office and was suspected of receiving kickbacks when he was mayor of Bragança.
Later, in a statement sent to the Lusa news agency, Hernâni Dias denied having committed any illegality, stating that he has “an absolutely clear conscience” and acted “with total transparency”.
The Secretary of State said that he had asked the Public Prosecutor’s Office (MP) “to investigate the contract for the Industrial Zone in Bragança and LNEC [National Civil Engineering Laboratory] to carry out an audit”, and that, concerning the flat occupied by his son in Porto, “the rent was paid by transfer”.
On 28 January, the prime minister accepted the resignation of the Secretary of State for Local Administration and Spatial Planning, Hernâni Dias, underlining “the detachment underlying his personal decision”.