A note sent to the media stated that “the Prime Minister received and accepted the resignation of Dr. Miguel Alves as Deputy Secretary of State to the Prime Minister, having already proposed his dismissal to the President of the Republic”, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.

“The Prime Minister thanks Dr. Miguel Alves and has accepted that his functions now cease and will, in due course, propose his replacement to the President of the Republic”.

António Costa's note came shortly after his office released a letter sent to him by Miguel Alves presenting his resignation from the post of Assistant Secretary of State to the Prime Minister.

“In view of the accusation made by the Public Prosecutor's Office, and even though I am not aware of its terms and assumptions, I believe that the conditions that allow me to remain in the Government of Portugal are not met”, justified the former mayor of Caminha.

In the same letter, Miguel Alves thanks the Prime Minister for the trust he has placed in him, the work with members of the Government over the last few weeks and declares himself “with a clear conscience, absolutely convinced of the legality of all the decisions” he has taken and committed to defending himself “in the proper place and time of Justice”.

Miguel Alves resigned on the day it was reported by the press that he is accused by the Public Prosecutor's Office of the crime of prevarication within the scope of a certificate extracted from Operation Teia for acts committed when he was president of the Municipal Council of Caminho, in the district of Viana do Castelo.

Miguel Alves has been at the centre of a controversy related to actions he took as mayor of Caminha City Council and also for being accused in two court cases.

The controversy began when Público reported, on October 26, that Miguel Alves had negotiated and signed a contract that forced the municipality of Caminha to advance 300 thousand euros in rents to a businessman for the construction of a Cross-border Exhibition Center in Caminha, a work which has not yet started despite the fact that the contract between the promoter and the municipality was signed in 2020.