The statement came three weeks after a letter from the Community that accused the Institute of Registries and Notary of having been used in a Soviet style antisemitic action, and demanded the "report that the institute has been preparing for more than a year on the law of the Sephardim, and that was presented by the Portuguese press as targeting that Community".
Alternatively, CIP/CJP requested "a public statement from IRN to lift the criminal shadow that the inquiry cast over the organization along with anonymous letters from criminals that the Minister of Justice collected to send to judicial authorities (autoridades judiciárias) in Lisbon and not in Oporto".
"The registrars responsible for the IRN inquiry agreed to be used and abused to attack the only Portuguese Jewish community with full synagogues, full museums, films, the one that certified Jews", the Community said. "They have always known that the Jewish Community of Oporto and its leadership had no relations, much less illicit ones, with the registry offices. Yet, they did nothing when they saw Kadoorie Synagogue being invaded like a brothel, the Community destroyed, the Chief Rabbi being transported to Lisbon for alleged “active corruption” of the registrars. The CIP/CJP was left to burn", it added.
Today the IRN explained that it rejects "any responsibility for the alleged slander, persecution or crimes that have been committed against the Community, whatever the reason that motivates them, occurrences that, having happened, we deeply regret, and being certain that the Community will not fail to activate the appropriate legal means to hold those who perpetrated them accountable".
Gabriel Senderowicz, the Oporto Jewish Community President, said to PJN that "meanwhile, the rabbi was arrested for "active corruption" and for 14 months we have been witnessing the ridiculous fireworks perpetrated by a group of individuals who created a huge problem for the country".
