This Thursday, journalist Rui Santos and university professor Paulo Morais defended the public interest in the information revealed by Rui Pinto and its importance in combating the phenomenon of corruption in the ‘Football Leaks’ trial.
In the testimony as a witness listed for the defense of the creator of the electronic platform, in the 42nd session of the trial that takes place at the Central Criminal Court of Lisbon, Rui Santos reiterated his defense of a “more transparent” football and that there is “a before and a then “Football Leaks”, which he considered to have helped “shed light on a lot”, to which access “has always been very difficult”.
Rui Pinto’s contribution is a light at the end of the tunnel of what we perceive, but we have no access. I see in these revelations something very important and that society and its institutions should take advantage of in order to increase vigilance ”, said, underlining: “I have no doubt about the public interest. I distinguish between how the documents were obtained and their content. It is of indisputable public interest, because the regulatory mechanisms are absolutely insufficient and ineffective ”.
In the opinion of the commentator of SIC Notícias, “society should not need these mechanisms to arrive at the truth”.
Questioned multiple times by lawyers for assistants in the process and even by the collective of judges on the breadth and limits to which the concept of public interest must be subject, Rui Santos considered that “Ruis Pintos” should not be necessary ”, although he stressed the relevance of your action.
“The limit of public interest has a lot to do with our definition of a concern for legality,” he explained. In view of examples, such as exfiltration of e-mail boxes in full and with the possible exposure of personal data, the president of the panel of judges, Margarida Alves, asked whether, in the commentator’s perspective, this would be “collateral damage that falls short of a good greater ”, something that Rui Santos subscribed to:“ Yes, it is my perspective ”.
In turn, Paulo Morais defended his vision of the creator of the electronic platform as “an informed citizen” and who should be “equated with a whistleblower” due to the importance of the information disclosed, both by ‘Football Leaks’ and by the’ Luanda Leaks case ‘, who exposed in January 2020 alleged financial schemes by businesswoman Isabel dos Santos and her husband, which will have allowed them to withdraw money from the Angolan public purse through tax havens.
The revelations of ‘Football Leaks’ and ‘Luanda Leaks’ were of the utmost public interest for the national and international community to be aware of corruption cases ”, noted the teacher, who stood out at the social level in recent years for his positions in the fight against corruption.
Paulo Morais valued, above all, the knowledge that ‘Luanda Leaks’ provided, by allowing “to materialize with documents what was already known by many”, according to the witness.
“Isabel dos Santos’ economic protection was great, as was the political spectrum. Portugal was the door for laundering Angolan money in Europe. It was an act of great public hygiene in Portugal and here is my tribute ”, he concluded.
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, the 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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