The lawyers of PLMJ had to check for the existence of potential “sensitive information” in the folders allegedly accessed by Rui Pinto, lawyer Sandra Lopes confirmed in court, at the 20th session of the ‘Football Leaks’ trial.
Heard as a witness as a former associate of the firm, where she worked between 2010 and 2019, Sandra Lopes also revealed the exact ways in which the intrusion into the PLMJ computer system was reported, something about which the defense of the creator of the electronic platform he had been questioning lawyers for several sessions.
“One day I arrive at PLMJ and I have an email that we should present at the auditorium. Then, we were informed that there had been a problem with the network, that some computers had been accessed and that we had been the ‘elected’ ”, he started by saying, adding: “We left this meeting with homework: see this list, what was in the folders, and identify what could be sensitive information”.
Sandra Lopes even admitted that, inside the office, some lawyers even jokingly suggested that the perpetrator of the attack was Rui Pinto, but he stressed that the creator’s name “was never mentioned” and that “it was only guesswork” at that time . Regarding the meeting in the auditorium, the lawyer only assured the lawyers of the creator of the electronic platform that it occurred “after Christmas 2018, perhaps already in the new year”.
Rui Pinto will have accessed emails from lawyers from the PLMJ department for Angola
The attack on the computer system of the law firm PLMJ attributed to Rui Pinto also covered members linked to the specific department of the office for Angola, according to the testimonies of two witnesses today in the trial of the ‘Football Leaks’ case.
Named ‘Angola desk’, this PLMJ unit had as its responsible partner the lawyer Pedro Metello de Nápoles, who was heard at the 20th session of the ongoing trial at the Central Criminal Court of Lisbon. “Between 2012 and 2015 I was responsible for connecting the office to Angola. Portuguese lawyers cannot practice in Angola, so my role was a little limited ”, he explained.
The witness, who listed the members then belonging to the ‘Angola desk’, was also questioned about possible links to the sphere of ‘Football Leaks’, but also to ‘Luanda Leaks’, who exposed in January 2020 alleged financial schemes of businesswoman Isabel dos Santos and her husband, Sindika Dokolo, who will have allowed them to withdraw money from the Angolan public purse through tax havens. However, he avoided commenting on these matters.
“I don’t think I can answer this question without thinking about specific clients, so I prefer not to answer, even for reasons of professional secrecy. I would rather not talk”, justified Pedro Metello de Nápoles, in a similar response to that of many other PLMJ lawyers before the panel of judges chaired by Margarida Alves.
The connection to the society department for Angola was also evident in today’s hearing by lawyer Joana Marques dos Reis, who joined PLMJ in 2014 and joined the Angola desk until last month. Continuing to act, he also stressed that he could not comment on the possible existence of material related to ‘Football Leaks’ or ‘Luanda Leaks’ on his computer or in his mailbox.
Joana Marques dos Reis was also the first witness to accurately specify the date of the meeting held at the company – January 28, 2019 – to inform lawyers of the extent of the intrusion into the respective computer system, in response to a question several times already by the defense of Rui Pinto.
In the afternoon, five lawyers connected to PLMJ were also heard: Diogo Perestrelo, Pedro Silva, Patrícia Mendes, Lin Man and Ricardo Oliveira.
This Wednesday, hearings are scheduled for the ex-Doyen Sports administrator, Nélio Lucas, as well as the lawyer Pedro Henriques, also linked to the former representative of the investment fund.
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. 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 is, for security reasons, inserted in the protection program of witnesses in an undisclosed location and under police protection.
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