The Portuguese Interior Minister Eduardo Cabrita has resigned because his company car was involved in a fatal traffic accident. He must not allow the "absolutely unacceptable political exploitation" of the accident to harm Prime Minister António Costa or his Socialist Party (PS) before the parliamentary elections on January 30, 2022, said Cabrita on Friday evening in Lisbon. A few hours earlier it became known that the public prosecutor's office will bring charges against his driver of negligent homicide.
Cabrita was in his company car when the vehicle hit and fatally injured a highway worker on June 18.
As the media reported, citing investigators, the car was traveling on the A6 motorway at a significantly excessive speed of 166 kilometers per hour.
There is a limit of 120 kilometers per hour on Portugal's motorways.
In addition, the accident took place at a signposted construction site.
After this information became known, the 60-year-old minister first tried on Friday to rid himself of any responsibility.
"I was just a passenger," he said.
This triggered a storm of indignation.
When announcing his resignation, he emphasized that he regretted the tragedy and expressed his condolences to the relatives and friends of the victim.
Cabrita had been called a burden by the media in view of the January election.
There were several scandals surrounding the Ministry of the Interior, which he led.
In March 2020, for example, a Ukrainian who tried to enter the country at Lisbon Airport without a valid visa was beaten to death by officials from the SEF immigration service.
The fact that some of the fire brigade was equipped with protective equipment that was supposed to be fireproof and that turned out to be flammable in practice also caused outrage.