The court decided, on Thursday, to extract a certificate of the process Football Leaks to investigate the connection between the Judiciary Police inspector Rogério Bravo and the lawyer Pedro Henriques, a collaborator of Nélio Lucas in the Doyen investment fund.
The decision of the collective of judges, chaired by Margarida Alves, took place in the 29th session of the trial, at the Central Criminal Court of Lisbon, after a request from the defense of the defendant Aníbal Pinto, who, following the testimony of Pedro Henriques, considered that “demonstrate strongly indicted for the commission of the crimes of false testimony, corruption, abuse of power and denial of justice, at least”.
According to the application presented by lawyer João Pereira dos Santos, it matters “clarify in defense of the credibility of the judicial system all the facts regarding the collaboration between the PJ and Doyen, what its outlines and objectives are, and also the influence of these illegal conducts on the validity of the evidence obtained and produced” in the process, claiming the existence of “shady contours and cover-up maneuvers”.
The prosecutor of the Public Ministry (MP), Marta Viegas, underlined that this matter “it is already appreciated in criminal proceedings, which is currently filed”. However, he concluded that he did not oppose the extraction of the certificate “so that the process can be reopened”, which was confirmed by the court.
At issue is an exchange of emails in November 2015 between Pedro Henriques and the PJ inspector Rogério Bravo, in which he treated Nélio Lucas’ collaborator by ‘you’ and in which he even sent a suggestion request to be presented to the Attorney General of the Republic, a position that at the time was occupied by Joana Marques Vidal.
‘Contact Point’
According to Pedro Henriques’ testimony, the PJ even indicated the name of a journalist to Doyen in order to be able to serve as a ‘contact point’ and pass on the investment fund’s version.
The information was exposed in the initial phase of the judgment session, with the employee of the former executive director (CEO) of the investment fund explaining that this suggestion arose during a “stress situation” for Doyen, given the “concern” with the revealing confidential documents on the electronic platform created by Rui Pinto.
“A specific journalist was appointed, but I don’t know who he is, I don’t remember. I sent this email [que tinha o nome do jornalista] to Nélio and to the Doyen communication department”, said Pedro Henriques, who, questioned by the president of the collective of judges, Margarida Alves, added: “They appointed a journalist on their initiative and they are the ones who have to ask, Doyen didn’t ask the PJ for anything.”
In the session that is still taking place, the collaborator of Nélio Lucas, who testifies for the third day, also confessed to having an “idea” that he spoke for the “last time” with the PJ about the process at the “end of 2015” and that he only learned about the identity of Rui Pinto as responsible for Football Leaks “for the media”.
Rui Pinto, 32, is responsible for a total of 90 crimes: 68 of improper access, 14 of violation of correspondence, six of illegitimate access, targeting entities such as Sporting, Doyen, the law firm PLMJ, the Portuguese Football Federation ( FPF) and the Attorney General’s Office (PGR), and also for computer sabotage to Sporting’s SAD and extortion, as attempted. This last crime concerns Doyen and it was also what led to the prosecution of 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 he is, for security reasons, included in the program for the protection of witnesses in an undisclosed location and under police protection.
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