The Minister of Internal Administration, Luís Neves, was heard in Parliament for almost five hours to clarify various controversies that marked recent weeks. During the hearing, the minister acknowledged failures in some procedures, but rejected that any decision had been made to obtain personal benefit or harm the State. "I am absolutely comfortable with everything I did," he stated, guaranteeing that he always acted with criteria of legality and in pursuit of the public interest.
Regarding income declarations, Luís Neves recognized that he did not declare his wife's company and the family car on time, acknowledging the error. He said he and his wife started "working relentlessly" and never remembered to update the declaration, and that he was never alerted by the services for the failure. However, he did not explain how it was possible that a top official at the PJ could go years without declaring all required elements without the control mechanisms detecting the situation.
Regarding the trailer seized by the Judicial Police, the minister explained that the PJ did not have capacity to store all seized material and that the decision to accept a solution for the trailer was made in this context. However, he acknowledged that there should have been a formal record of the exit, which did not exist. Regarding the works at his house in Odemira, Neves admitted that he "should never have allowed" the owner of Construbarcelos, a company with contracts with the police, to carry out work at the residence. He denied any relationship of favoritism, noting that the company represented only about 4% of the PJ's contracts during the period in question.
The minister's explanations remained incomplete on other matters. Regarding the construction materials used in Odemira, the so-called "sulações," Deputy Rui Rocha questioned whether they came from Infraestruturas de Portugal. Neves responded that the material was made available to him by a worker, but did not clarify who this worker was or whether he had authorization. Regarding the use of a seized vehicle associated with trafficker "Xuxas," the minister framed it within the operational management of vehicles seized by the PJ, but did not explain who specifically authorized the transfer of the vehicle. Regarding the loans of approximately 225,000 euros for the works, Neves guaranteed that he has only one bank account that is "absolutely transparent," but did not elaborate on the chronology between loans, expenses and works.
