Filipe Sousa, Member of the JPP, is under scrutiny after the suspicion of an undue advantage of the times when he was mayor in Madeira. MP asks that parliamentary immunity be withdrawn, but even Miguel Albuquerque, his “political opponent”, leaves in his defense: “He’s an honest man.”.
© Pedro Pina – RTP
16/10/2026
by
News to Minutes
Filipe Sousa, the only Member of the Joint People's Party (JPP), is indicted for receiving undue advantage, and the prosecutor (MP) has already requested that his parliamentary immunity be lifted. The honourable Member, elected by the constituency of Madeira, has already contested the suspicion raised about him and has also accused the MP of political persecution.
Filipe Sousa did not leave much time to talk about it, and the same happened with the president of the Madeira regional government, Miguel Albuquerque, who, despite being his “political opponent”, has no doubt about the Madeiran deputy in the Assembly of the Republic: “He’s an honest man.”.
But, after all, why was Philip Sousa indicted?
It was known, this Friday, that the MP asked the Assembly of the Republic to waive the immunity of the deputy of the JPP, Filipe Sousa, with the letter of the Court of Madeira, to which the Lusa agency today had access, in consideration in the Parliamentary Transparency Committee. The rapporteur is the former leader of the Liberal Initiative, Rui Rocha, and relates to an alleged practice of the deputy of the JPP as mayor of Santa Cruz in mandate 2021-2025.
According to the MP, in question is a crime of receipt or undue offer of punishable advantage with prison sentence of one to five years – criminal frame that sets up a situation of compulsory waiver of the parliamentary immunity of the JPP deputy by the Assembly of the Republic, by be longer than three years.
The MP considers that Filipe Sousa is indicted for celebrating with Cassiano’s Rent Car, Lda, on 10 February 2025, a rental contract by car for a period of 28 days and for the overall price of eur 1,618,96 and returned the vehicle on 10 march 2025.
According to the Public Prosecutor, the manager of that company will have decided not to charge rent “only because this is the mayor of Santa Cruz and because of these functions”. And Philip Sousa will have “accepted not to pay the rent, well knowing that this corresponded to an asset advantage that was not due”, what can be included in the practice of “crime with direct intent”.
The only member of the JPP was heard at the Parliamentary Transparency Committee on 8 September and, later, Filipe Sousa presented a pronunciation, claiming that at the time of the conclusion of the contract and throughout the period of rental and use of the vehicle, his term as president of the municipality in question was suspended, between 7 February and 23 March 2025, for being a candidate for elections to the Legislative Assembly of the Autonomous Region of Madeira.
On the basis of the same documents, Filipe Sousa assured that he never negotiated or accepted any remission, and, after the return of the vehicle, he waited for the invoice to be issued, which he requested from the rental company. This invoice amounted to EUR 1,618,96 was issued on 2 July 2026 and paid in full on 20 July 2026.
“ I am in political life with full transparency”
Already this Friday, Philip Sousa accused the MP of do a political persecution, classifying the process as a “narrative” without foundation. “So far, I have not been notified by the Public Prosecutor, but I am glad that my immunity [parlamentary] will be lifted, because I will clarify this narrative that they created around a situation that, for me, has no basis,” said Filipe Sousa at a press conference in the Assembly of the Republic.
As to the time when Philip Sousa was mayor, and upon which suspicions fall, the deputy assured that he will easily prove, through copies of documents that are in his possession, that he effectively paid the rental of the car.
Filipe Sousa said that the prosecutor of the lawsuit was “mashing the credible process” that everyone wants from the MP and went even further in the references he made to the person responsible, beginning by saying that he is “anxious to meet him”.
“ I think this prosecutor should put his hand on his conscience. Before joining the services of the Public Prosecutor was lawyer and lawyer of the Espírito Santo Group. And he had a very concrete mission: he managed the offshore accounts of the Holy Spirit Group. Therefore, if he thinks that what he did or does in his personal life, in his trajectory, is the same as the citizen Filipe Sousa, who is now a deputy, disengages himself ", warned.
According to the deputy of the JPP, in 12 years he was in the Chamber of Santa Cruz, every year he was constituted accused: “ These situations give me strength. At first, when faced with this political persecution, using the judicial institutions for this, I confess that I was concerned. He often stopped sleeping. But gradually I got used to it”.
Albuquerque goes out in defense of Filipe Sousa
The president of the government of Madeira, on the other hand, classified the judicial process involving Mr Filipe Sousa as “a nonsense”. “He is my political adversary, now I have no doubt that he is an honest man,” he said.
“ I think this is all a load of crap”, said Miguel Albuquerque.
Speaking on the margin of a visit to the Central Operatory Block of the Hospital Dr. Nélio Mendonça, Funchal, also considered that “it’s all hypocrisy”, on the other hand, it is necessary to be “some care” in the face of complaints with the Public Prosecutor.
“So they will end up with politicians,” he observed, adding: “This story of denouncing everything is all hypocrisy.”
“ I was told it was a rental car. This is all nonsense”, reinforced, with irony, to immediately point out: “We need to focus on what is important, which is the development of the region.”