These positions were transmitted by deputy Jorge Galveias, in a press conference in which he considered the government's decision to dismiss the SCML Board led by former socialist minister Ana Jorge understandable.

"Chega is a party that is guided by transparency and seriousness. We are facing a serious situation. We demand an audit of the accounts of the last few years, which should focus essentially on the points related to international investment and Santa Casa games", he declared.

According to the Chega deputy, his party will call "Ana Jorge" and former providers such as Edmundo Martinho to parliament "so that it is clear what really happened and what the real operating conditions of the SCML are", he declared.

Other parties, such as the Liberal Initiative and the PS, had already taken the initiative of calling Ana Jorge and her predecessor in office, Edmundo Martinho, to parliament, but the party led by André Ventura admits, "if necessary", including the former provider Pedro Santana Lopes, current mayor of Figueira da Foz.

Regarding the government's decision to dismiss Ama Jorge's team, the Chega deputy said he understood it "perfectly, since he cannot have access to the information necessary for the proper functioning of the SCML".

"If the former provider does not provide her with all the necessary data, it is natural that the government does not feel comfortable and wants to replace her", he added.

Ana Jorge took office on May 2, 2023, chosen by the previous socialist government, and inherited an institution with serious financial difficulties, after the years of the pandemic and an internationalization process of social games, carried out by the administration of the provider Edmundo Martinho, which may have caused losses in the order of 50 million euros.

One of the main decisions of the team led by the former Minister of Health was to carry out an independent audit of the SCML's accounts, with one of its main objectives being to ascertain what happened in the internationalization process of social games.

According to the newspaper Público, the forensic audit that the consultancy BDO was hired to carry out in August 2023 on the business of Santa Casa Global (SCG), a company created by SCML to carry out the internationalization of games, identified 80 "non-conformities" for which it holds all the members of the board led by former provider Edmundo Martinho responsible and the managers who managed the company in Portugal and the companies acquired and created in Brazil, Peru, Mozambique and the United Kingdom.

The PS, through a recent request, stated that the situation of the SCML "has been the target of scrutiny by the Assembly of the Republic", giving as examples the hearings in parliamentary committee at "different times, both by those responsible for the management of the institution and its political guardianship".

"In the same sense, the institution has been the subject of recurring news at various times, which include, for example, the request for a forensic audit ordered by the previous Executive or, more recently, the resignation of the institution's deputy provider", it added.

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