"Well, it has a strong political component, because the decision to nominate belongs to the political power. The President of the Republic, holder of executive power, is the person who chooses, who appoints and inaugurates, now I don't see any other way in which politics interfere except in the matter of laws", replied Pitta Grós to Lusa, after being sworn in by the President at the Presidential Palace.
For Pitta Grós, re-elected for another five-year term, despite having been one of the least voted in the elections, the interaction between the Attorney General's Office and the political power only takes place in the field of approval of laws by the National Assembly.
"It is the National Assembly that approves the laws. Now, in political terms, I have never been questioned by any member of any party about what I should or shouldn't do", he noted.
Hélder Pitta Grós and Luís de Assunção Mota Liz both obtained ten points in the elections for the position, having been surpassed by the magistrate Inocência Pinto, elected, however, by the President, João Lourenço, for the position of deputy prosecutor.
Speaking to journalists, the PGR also considered as a "false problem" the guidelines it receives from the President of the Republic, in the exercise of its functions.
"It is a false problem, because the law says that the PGR receives guidance from the holder of executive power only in those cases where there is intervention by the executive in one of the qualities of the processes", he justified.
Now "if the holder of executive power is constituted as a defendant in a process, it is natural that he as a defendant and the PGR, as his lawyer, want to know how his defense should be made, that is normal", he said.
"Therefore, it is only in this aspect that there are guidelines, in other aspects there are not. It is a false problem that arises every now and then because the PGR does not receive direct guidelines, it only receives in these specific situations", he replied to Lusa.
Asked if his reappointment had a special symbology, since Inocência Pinto obtained the highest number of votes in the elections, Pitta Grós said that although he was the second most voted candidate, his continuity resulted from the confidence of the judiciary and João Lourenço.
"First, the Council [Superior da Magistratura do Ministério Público] believed that I was capable of continuing to lead the PGR, although I was the second most voted candidate, but it gave me that confidence and that it recognized the work I have done in these five years ", he argued.
The second aspect, he continued, is that the President of the Republic also "maintained the confidence, which he always showed throughout the first term" and considered that Pitta Grós had "conditions to continue working".
He also said that the congratulations he has received for the work that the Attorney's Office has been doing are "gratifying", noting that it was a team effort, "which from the first hours gave all the support".
"But I also take the opportunity to thank those who don't believe and didn't believe in me, because knowing that always gives me more strength and more stimulus to improve what I'm doing", he said.
He assured that the fight against corruption is one of the priorities in this new mandate, asking for the collaboration of all actors in society in this fight and the availability of financial resources.
"Because corruption cannot be fought without having the financial capacity to be able to do this fight, there must be great support and availability on the part of the executive so that we can have these conditions", he stressed.
He pointed out the problem of human resources as one of the main challenges of the body he supervises, referring at the same time that actions are already underway to respond to the claims of justice technicians, administrative staff and magistrates of that body.
Better working and salary conditions, payment of travel allowances, transport and approval of a remuneration statute are among the demands of the Union of Justice and Administrative Technicians of the PGR.
"We are working permanently with the unions, both of technicians and judges, we have teams interacting with them and we work with the union of PGR technicians in the field of their remuneration status, whose final document will be sent to the executive" , concluded Pitta Grós.
The President, João Lourenço, after inaugurating Hélder Pitta Grós and Inocência Pinto, in the presence of magistrates, deputies and ministers, wished them "many successes" in the performance of their functions.
"We know it's not easy, but for the PGR it's continuity, so it's new only for the deputy, but it's also for the house, so I think it's not new to also exercise these new roles, I wish you many successes in your new roles" , said the head of state.
