“This information obtained illegally should not have been released. Score. If from a global perspective this information could have been understood [para uma maior verdade desportiva], I have to admit that I may have had some influence in this regard, ”said the federative leader, at the hearing held at the 23rd session of the trial of the case, taking place at the Central Criminal Court of Lisbon.
Through videoconference, Fernando Gomes reiterated the defense of “legality at all costs” and confirmed that he was only aware of the intrusion allegedly committed by Rui Pinto in the computer system “in August or September 2019”, when he was called by the Judicial Police (PJ ) to identify information that had been found on the devices seized from the creator of ‘Football Leaks’.
“We are aware that there are many attempts to intrude into our system, but we have been creating conditions to prevent these attempts for a long time”, said Fernando Gomes, without hiding “a feeling of enormous discomfort” due to the existence of illegitimate accesses: “No we can stop being uncomfortable, it’s like our house is being stolen. The FPF must preserve and not share the information it has in its custody. ”
However, the 68-year-old sports manager acknowledged that the FPF had been on the alert about a year earlier, when, in July 2018, the contracts of two Benfica players – Ferreyra and Castillo – were publicly disclosed and that left the organism “in doubt” about the origin of the information.
“We made a report to the PJ against strangers, because we didn’t know who had meddled in the systems and without being sure that it had been through the FPF network. We did not know when there was an intrusion to access these documents ”, he explained, referring to the circulation of these documents between the clubs themselves and the Portuguese Professional Football League.
However, Fernando Gomes emphasized the fight for greater transparency in football since he assumed the presidency of the FPF in 2011, and, in response to the defense of the main defendant in the process, confessed not to oppose the disclosure of contracts between clubs and players of football.
“My position is that agreements between private entities are a responsibility between them and, if they want, they have that capacity. I have no problem that they are disclosed, but in the normal way of processing them they are not disclosed ”, he observed.
Regarding the issue of contracts involving investment funds, previously permitted and called TPO (third party ownership), the president of the FPF considered that if the contracts established allow the fund to intervene on the player, this “ calls into question sporting integrity ”, also recalling the work carried out by the body against corruption.
“The FPF knows its responsibilities, and has even presented a proposal to parliament. In 2017, fully aware that there could be a problem of corruption in Portugal, he advocated changing the law and fighting this type of situation [enriquecimento ilícito] is that it presented changes ”, he noted, saying:“ Everything that goes against sporting truth and transparency has our protest. ”
In today’s session, attorneys Nuno Barnabé and Inês Almeida Costa were also heard, both linked to PLMJ at the time of the facts of the case, secretary Lina Peres, member of the FPF Arbitration Council João Rocha and the agency’s technology director , Hugo Freitas, whose investigation will continue on November 19.
The trial will now continue on the 18th with the hearing of José Luís Cristóvão, PJ’s computer specialist, and the witnesses of the process assistants João Medeiros and Inês Almeida Costa.
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 Judiciary Police (PJ) and his “critical sense”, but for security reasons, he is part of the protection program of witnesses in an undisclosed location and under police protection.
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