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João Paulo Batalha, president of the “Civic Association, Integrity and Transparency”, considered “bizarre” the support of António Costa and Fernando Medina for the candidacy of Luís Filipe Vieira to the presidency of Benfica.
The fact that the Prime Minister and the Mayor of Lisbon were part of Vieira’s Honor Committee in the elections – as reported by Expresso – is something that, for João Paulo Batalha, “does not make sense.”
“I confess that I am already used to seeing promiscuity between soccer and politics, but even I am perplexed by this case. This is bad on three or four levels,” João Paulo Batalha said in an interview with SIC Notícias.
“António Costa and Fernando Medina are members of Benfica, okay, they have the right to vote, but they must refrain from getting involved in the internal life of a club, especially in an election. Because there are institutional relationships between the positions they occupy and the club in question. Vieira invites people to a Committee of Honor for the functions they occupy, the public importance they have. Vieira borrowed the honor from the Lisbon City Council and the Portuguese Government for his candidacy. And they agreed to lend, “argued the president of the Civic Association Integrity and Transparency.
On the other hand, and before the cases of justice that surrounded Benfica, Luís Filipe Vieira and the “hole of the New Bank”, João Paulo Batalha stated the following: “António Costa should not participate in a process of choosing a club and much except in the defense of this candidate, I am very sorry. Luís Filipe Vieira has not been condemned for anything yet – I think they will only condemn him when he ceases to be president of Benfica, that is the tradition – but when the prime minister comes to Say you have to investigate what happened in Novo Banco … Luís Filipe Vieira is one of those responsible for the hole of hundreds of millions of euros. And that does not prevent the prime minister from being part of an Honor Commission? strange … Unless Luís Filipe Vieira we send more in the country than we think ”.
