In less than 20 minutes, Jorge Jesus explained that he did not know that he had an email at Sporting and, in the end, he wanted to know who Rui Pinto is.
After several attempts at notification by the Lisbon Criminal Court, coach Jorge Jesus was finally heard in the Football Leaks case. In a testimony that lasted less than 20 minutes and in the presence of Rui Pinto, the now responsible for the Benfica tactic started by answering the question of the public prosecutor Marta Viegas about the email accounts he would have when he was Sporting coach, to which Rui Pinto will have managed to get access. “I didn’t use or have an email box. I don’t know if Sporting created this box. I didn’t use it, neither at Sporting, nor at Benfica, nor anywhere because I don’t use the clubs’ emails ”, said Jorge Jesus, quoted by the Observer. And he added that he only uses his personal email.
Jorge Jesus was listed by the Public Ministry, the defense and the assistants as a witness, but the coach admitted he did not understand the reason he was at the Campus of Justice, in Lisbon. “I don’t even know why I’m here. Is it mandatory to be here, is that it? ” Judge Margarida Alves explained that Rui Pinto would have accessed his email and, in addition, disclosed his contract with the Lions Club.
“I never worried, I have nothing to hide, nor did I value it. For me, it never created instability. There was nothing there that was not true. I don’t know what the publicity did to Sporting, I’m a football coach, ”said Jorge Jesus. And he added, this time treating the prosecutor informally: “If it’s your contract, you’re not afraid, you have to pay taxes like I do, more than 50%”.
As in all sessions, the prosecutor has to pose questions to witnesses who are already habitual. And Jorge Jesus was irritated by the latter. When asked if he had already been in Hungary, Jorge Jesus said he visited the country when he was still a Sporting player. Soon after, the prosecutor asked if he had visited Budapest in 2015, the year that Rui Pinto was able to access Jorge Jesus’ email. “I do not speak Portuguese? I already said that I was only in Budapest once, at the age of 19, when I went to play there ”, replied Jorge Jesus.
On the way out, he asked, looking at Rui Pinto: “Is that boy over there?”
.
