The President of the Government of Madeira, Miguel Albuquerque, accused in a judicial investigation related to suspicions of corruption, refuses to consider leaving office even if he is accused.
Talking to the Lusa agency, he said:
“I will continue in office, I have no problem, because, in conscience, I know who I am and I know what I have done.”
Having been in power since 2015, Miguel Albuquerque pointed out that in the judicial process, the accusation may be subject to investigation, and then there is a definitive accusation. It would be madness to accuse me of either active or passive corruption.
Miguel Albuquerque, who has a Law degree and practiced law for several year’s adds that he can only be guilty if there is sufficient evidence. Something he firmly believes does not exist.
“This idea that the prosecution has a monopoly on the truth is contrary to the rule of law, because only in an inquisitorial process does the accuser accuse and condemn,” he added.
He concluded by saying that “the facts in a criminal case are subject to a set of formalities that are not normally understandable by laypeople, but which are the basis of the democratic rule of law.”
Miguel Albuquerque has also reiterated that he intends to stand for President, provided his health is good in the 2029 Regional elections.
Samantha Gannon
info at madeira-weekly.com
O presidente do Governo Regional assegurou que não foi ouvido pelas autoridades judiciais, nem faz ideia “em que ponto está o processo”.
After the PSD won the early elections on March 23, winning 23 of the 47 seats in the Madeiran hemicycle, and having secured an absolute majority with an agreement with the CDS-PP, Miguel Albuquerque now expects the current legislature to last four years.
“Now we have an agreement, as it is established, a government agreement with the CDS, the leader of the CDS is part of the [regional] government. In addition to that, we have an agreement in the parliamentary framework, we have a majority and, at the moment, we have all the conditions to govern”, he stressed.
In any case, even “there is no development in the process”, in politics “there are always contingencies”, he admitted.
The president of the Madeiran government was made a defendant at the end of January 2024, in an operation carried out by the Public Prosecutor’s Office and the Judiciary Police in Madeira, the Azores and several areas of the mainland.
Miguel Albuquerque is suspected of corruption, malfeasance, abuse of power and attack against the rule of law, among other crimes.
The process also involves the then mayor of Funchal, Pedro Calado, and the businessman in the construction sector Avelino Farinha e Agrela (responsible for the AFA group), who were preventively detained for 22 days and were then returned to freedom with a Term of Identity and Residence as a coercive measure.
At the time, the PAN deputy, with whom the PSD had signed a parliamentary incidence agreement to secure the absolute majority it lost in the elections of September 24, 2023, withdrew political confidence in Miguel Albuquerque, which led the Madeiran ruler to resign, causing early elections that took place on May 26, 2024.
In that suffrage, the PSD/Madeira elected 19 deputies and only had the support of the two elected CDS-PP, having governed in a minority until December 17 of that year, when the regional executive was overthrown following the approval of a motion of censure presented by Chega, which again triggered an electoral process.
On March 23 of this year, the PSD won the early regional elections by electing 23 deputies, one short of an absolute majority, which it secured with a government and parliamentary agreement with the elected CDS-PP.
The Legislative Assembly of Madeira is also made up of 11 deputies from the JPP, eight from the PS
