“The Portuguese Labour Party (PTP) wants to clarify what has happened with that investigation since the judge considered there was evidence of crime”, Raquel Coelho MP said.

The PTP is to require auditions to the president of Madeira’s court district Paulo Barreto and to the public prosecutor supervisor Maria de Lurdes Correia.

Madeira’s hidden public liabilities case, also known as Cuba Livre case, was closed in 2017, although the criminal instruction judge considered there was evidence of criminal activity, advising the public prosecutor to proceed with the investigation.

Raquel Coelho has said this “is unacceptable” because “it is an important investigation involving 201 projects valued at €1.1 billion which have disappeared from Madeira’s regional budget”.

During the Cuba Livre case investigation there were seven defendants suspected of misuse of power, violation of budget execution and intentional malfeasance in office.

Among the defendants was the former president of Madeira’s regional government Alberto João Jardim.