Chega has denied that the break-in at party leader André Ventura’s parliamentary office was staged, after MPs from other parties questioned the sequence of events on the morning it was found. Francisco Gomes, a Chega MP for Madeira, reached the Assembly of the Republic at about the same time. He was collecting equipment to film a social media video in the party’s group room, which sits beside Ventura’s office. The sources said Gomes was known for arriving early every day and described the staging suggestion as a troubling way to cover the case. SIC reported that he did not pass the detail about the missing drive to investigators.