A far-right Portuguese MP is accused of stealing several suitcases from the conveyor belts of Lisbon and Ponta Delgada airports, in the Azores archipelago, which led to his expulsion from his parliamentary group, announced Friday his party.
At the opening of the parliamentary session, the President of the Assembly, José Pedro Aguiar-Branco, asked the elected representative Miguel Arruda to sit in the last row of the hemicycle, as is the practice for non-attached Members. Heckled by his former colleagues from the Chega party, the 40-year-old deputy decided to remain in the Assembly as an independent despite the scandal surrounding him, while requesting the lifting of his parliamentary immunity.
“I am being crucified in the public square but, until proven otherwise, I am innocent,” said the elected official for the Azores constituency on Thursday evening on TVI television.
According to several local media, the police arrested him on Tuesday at Lisbon airport and he was indicted for theft of luggage, some of which was allegedly found at his home.
“Faced with this situation, as president of the party, I cannot allow him to remain in the parliamentary group,” Chega president André Ventura declared Thursday after a meeting with Miguel Arruda. .
-Still according to the press, investigators have damning video surveillance camera images showing the deputy grabbing other passengers’ luggage and taking it to the toilets in order to place it in his own suitcase. The person concerned defended himself by suggesting that they could be images generated by artificial intelligence.
Some media reported that Miguel Arruda sold the contents of the suitcases he stole on a platform for selling and purchasing second-hand clothing and items.
The public prosecutor “only confirms the completion of steps as part of an investigation relating to facts unrelated to the functions he exercises,” a spokesperson for the general prosecutor’s office said on Friday.
