New twist on the Brazilian twins' favoritism scandal

Mother of the twins testifies in Parliament as President Marcelo's son is constituted a defendant.

The mother of the twins at the heart of a favoritism scandal involving President Marcelo will testify in person at the Parliamentary Inquiry Commission into the case. The audition takes place on Friday, June 21, starting at 2pm.

Despite having previously made a request for the hearing to take place via videoconference, as she lives in São Paulo, Brazil, the children’s mother later made herself available to come to Portugal, with the trip being paid for by the Assembly of the Republic .

President’s son becomes a defendant

Meanwhile, Nuno Rebelo de Sousa, President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa’s son, has been made a defendant in the case of the twins who received hospital treatment in Portugal with a drug that cost four million euros.

When questioned by Lusa on Wednesday about whether Nuno Rebelo de Sousa is a defendant, the Attorney General's Office (PGR) merely replied that “the investigation has defendants”, referring further information to a statement dated 7 June.

The statement said that the case involved facts that could constitute “prevarication, in apparent competition with the offence of abuse of power, the offence of abuse of power as defined in the Penal Code and qualified fraud”.

Refusal to testify

This week, he informed the Parliamentary Committee of Inquiry (CPI) into the twins' case that he refuses to provide clarifications of his role in the affair, admitting nonetheless he could make himself present at a hearing “at a future time”. 

However, the committee has already made public that it “does not accept” Rebelo de Sousa’s refusal, and will consider lodging a formal complaint for disobedience.

The CPI’s President, Rui Paulo Sousa (Chega), said that Nuno Rebelo de Sousa “will have to come, whether in person or by videoconference, but he will have to come”.

“All groups were in agreement, the type of justification that was given is not accepted”, added Rui Paulo Sousa, stating that “it is not possible to understand” Nuno Rebelo de Sousa's version.

In parallel, the Chega’s MP also announced that the twins' mother will give statements in person, instead of the video conference format that was initially planned.

Case recap

The ‘Brazilian twins controversy’ was initially broken last November – shortly before Operation Influencer blew up, toppling the Socialist government under António Costa - when TVI/CNN Portugal revealed that two twin children living in Brazil had acquired Portuguese nationality and received the drug Zolgensma at the Santa Maria Hospital in Lisbon, back in 2020.

At a cost of two million euros per person, this drug aims to control the spread of spinal muscular atrophy, a neurodegenerative disease, and is said to be the most expensive medicine in the world.

The suspicions of favouritism arose from an email message sent by Nuno Rebelo de Sousa to his father, talking about the matter.

President Marcelo has publicly disassociated himself from the case. He recently told international journalists that he had cut relations with his son, and “doesn’t care if he is held responsible”.

The case is still being investigated by the Attorney General's Office and the General Inspection of Health Activities has already concluded that access to neuropediatric consultation for these children was illegal.