The Public Prosecutor’s Office has launched legal proceedings seeking the removal from office of Albufeira Mayor Rui Cristina at Loulé’s Administrative and Fiscal Court, following a petition submitted by the citizens’ group “Albufeira sem Medo” (Albufeira Without Fear), the informal group announced.
The proceedings, which have since been confirmed by the Public Prosecutor’s Office to several major media outlets, concern the possibly unlawful appointment of Sara Cristina, the Albufeira mayor’s sister, to the municipality’s Office of Support to Councillors. Rui Cristina was elected on the Chega party ticket last year, swiftly courting controversy over comments concerning his Roma constituents, and the payment of a large sum of money to a friend and fellow Chega party member for the organisation of an urban culture and music festival.
According to the group that filed the complaint underpinning the case, the appointment of a mayor’s sibling to a position in their relative’s public office body is “expressly prohibited by law, specifically Law No. 78/2019, of 2 September, with no room for interpretation: a holder of political office cannot appoint a sibling to their own support office”.
“We did not make anything up. We simply brought the facts together, cited the law, and asked for it to be enforced. The Public Prosecutor’s Office, after examining what we submitted, took action. That means one simple thing: the facts we reported have a basis,” Albufeira sem Medo said.
According to the Público newspaper, the case has been classified as “electoral litigation proceedings”. When contacted for information, Albufeira Municipal Council said the mayor had not yet been made aware of the proceedings.
The mayor’s sister, previously a senior official at Loulé Municipal Council, took up the position in Albufeira’s Office of Support to Councillors very shortly after Rui Cristina was elected.
When the case first became public through a report by the Sábado publication, the municipality maintained that this was not a political appointment, but rather a “staff mobility move” between local authorities. It also said that Rui Cristina had declared himself unable to take part in the procedure precisely because his sister was involved.
Source: Público / Sul Informação / Sábado
Photo credit: Nuno Veiga / LUSA
