Pedro Nuno Santos, as a deputy, received, on average, 1,800 thousand euros per month, around 203 thousand euros in total, for travel allowance, between 2005 and 2015, despite living in Lisbon during much of the parliamentary work.
According to “Saturday”the now general secretary of the Socialist Party (PS) had an apartment on Rua Marcos Portugal, in Lisbon, but always indicated that his official address was in São João da Madeira, which had an impact on the payment of travel allowances that are attributed to deputies residing outside of Lisbon.
In response, in a statement sent to RenaissancePedro Nuno Santos argues that “I have always complied with all the Assembly’s rules on this matter” and highlights that “any doubts about them” were never raised.
“The time I spent in Lisbon on Rua Marcos Portugal was the result of my presence during parliamentary work periods, which run from Tuesday afternoon to Friday morning. Since even my constituency was Aveiro, even this parliamentary political work on Mondays was done from S. João da Madeira”, the note reads.
The socialist also points out that the opinion of the legal audit of the Assembly of the Republic confirms that “it is irrelevant whether or not you own a property in Lisbon for the purposes of determining habitual residence”. And he adds that, if a deputy chooses to rent or purchase a property while in Lisbon, “this fact does not determine that this is their habitual residence”.
“In fact, the cases that required investigations ended with the respective archiving due to the demonstration that the need to be in Lisbon to exercise the mandate does not imply a change of habitual residence”, he recalls.
Pedro Nuno Santos also clarifies that Lisbon became the city of his habitual residence, after 2015, because his political life, as a member of António Costa’s first Government, “changed substantially”.
“When I moved to Telheiras, I even changed my tax residence and voter registration”, he adds, also highlighting that the birth of his son was another decisive factor in changing his habitual residence to Lisbon.