Defense intended to challenge questioning of witness related to Nélio Lucas and Doyen
In the trial of the Football Leaks case, suspended for 14 days, due to the confirmation of a test with a positive result to the new coronavirus of a relative of one of the judges of the collective, there was still time for the presentation of a defense request of the defendant Aníbal Pinto, still before the witness Pedro Henriques, lawyer and former collaborator of Nélio Lucas at the Doyen investment fund, began to give testimony, in order to challenge the inquiry.
In question, according to lawyer João Pereira dos Santos, there was an alleged conversation between Pedro Henriques and the legal representative of Aníbal Pinto in another case, João Azevedo, to whom it would have been transmitted “in a clear and aggressive way that happened to Aníbal Pinto twice what’s happening to you “. The panel of judges decided to reject the application and opened the way for the witness to be questioned by the Public Ministry.
Then, Pedro Henriques started by explaining his connection to the facts of the process, which culminated in the alleged attempt to extort Doyen by defendants Rui Pinto and Aníbal Pinto.
The former investment fund employee recalled that in 2015 “confidential documentation from Doyen began to appear in Football Leaks” and that Nélio Lucas was receiving e-mails from Artem Lobuzov – who later became Rui Pinto – in the which “an amount between 500 thousand and one million euros” would be requested for the end of the publications on the Internet.
“Nélio Lucas said to me:” You may not believe it, but [Artem Lobuzov] said that this must be dealt with by lawyers and indicated Aníbal Pinto “. Later I could understand the reasons”, said Pedro Henriques, alluding to the conversation at the meeting with Nélio Lucas and Aníbal Pinto in the service area of the A5 motorway, in Oeiras, in that the defendant said that “he had been a lawyer for a person who had withdrawn money from the Cayman Islands”: “There was this connection,” he noted.
Rui Pinto, 32, 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. This last crime concerns Doyen and was also what led to the pronunciation of the lawyer Aníbal Pinto.
The creator of Football Leaks has been free since August 7, “due to his collaboration” with the Judicial Police (PJ) and his “critical sense”, but is, for security reasons, inserted in the protection program of witnesses in an undisclosed location and under police protection.
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