The Judicial Police (PJ) admitted the possibility that the collaboration with Rui Pinto could “go beyond” the opening of the encrypted and seized discs to the creator of Football Leaks, inspector José Amador acknowledged this Thursday.
“We are able to go beyond that”, summarized the person responsible for the investigation in the eighth session of the trial, at the Central Criminal Court of Lisbon, while underlining, however, that the collaboration with the accused in the process was initially conditioned by the absence of guarantee Rui Pinto that the contents of the discs would not be used for his incrimination.
“A safeguard against self-incrimination was soon removed. There were several interrogations that did not go beyond the framework of collaboration. And as self-incrimination was not overcome, the auto was closed,” said José Amador. Asked by Rui Pinto’s defense about a possible use of the content for other investigations, José Amador did not rule out the situation, but focused the discussion on this process: “It is not that it would not be used for anything else. The obstacle is that no guarantee was given that wasn’t used for self-incrimination. “
The subject of the collaboration of the creator of the electronic platform with the authorities occupied a significant part of today’s morning session, and it was not clear whether there was a guarantee or if this safeguard was no longer requested by Rui Pinto. The inspector of the PJ recognized, even so, that he was not “very optimistic” about the opening of the records without the intervention of Rui Pinto.
Ongoing, José Amador assumed that in relation to Rui Pinto’s conduct there was “a substantial difference” in relation to the type of access to computer systems, the way they were made and the tools used for their traceability.
The income of the creator of the electronic platform also deserved analysis by the court in this eighth session, with the PJ inspector responsible for the investigation revealing that “elements were not collected that would allow evidence of illegal activity in the economic earnings” of Rui Pinto.
José Amador also noted that the Hungarian authorities did not know any credit institutions associated with the defendant and that the elements found in Rui Pinto’s messages related to the transaction of old books translated only into “modest values”, noting even that “if that was the source of income, the defendant must live very badly “.
Still in relation to the possible existence of accounts in digital currency, raised by the panel of judges, José Amador confessed that the PJ found nothing in this regard.
Subsequently, it was the turn of Aníbal Pinto’s defense to question the witness. The inspector stated that before the investigation began he did not know Doyen’s CEO, Nélio Lucas, or even the lawyer Pedro Henriques, and that he never found evidence during a process that there was “closer knowledge” with someone from the PJ.
Regarding the letter from the PJ that was found in Pedro Henriques’ correspondence, José Amador reiterated that he had no responsibility in this matter.
“I didn’t deliver anything. This situation is better to be delegated to my immediate boss: Rogério Bravo,” he said, adding that “it was a collaboration to the extent that, in the police’s view, it was necessary” and that PJ “had no intervention in the selection of the site” for the meeting between Aníbal Pinto and Doyen in the service area of A5, in October 2015.
José Amador also stressed that the main interest of this meeting “was to reach Artem Lobuzov, because that was the figure that nobody knew” in the investigation, in reference to the name used by Rui Pinto in the exchange of messages with Nélio Lucas at that time.
The session will continue this afternoon with the start of the hearing of José São Bento, assistant specialist of the PJ.
Rui Pinto, 31, is responsible for a total of 90 crimes: 68 of undue access, 14 of violation of correspondence, six of illegitimate access, targeting entities such as Sporting, Doyen, PLMJ law firm, the Portuguese Federation of Football (FPF) and the Attorney General’s Office (PGR), and also for computer sabotage to Sporting’s SAD and for extortion, in the attempted form.
The creator of Football Leaks has been free since August 7, “due to his collaboration” with the PJ and his “critical sense”, but is, for security reasons, inserted in the witness protection program in a place not revealed and under police protection.
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