The Lisbon Court of Appeal (TRL) annulled the seizure of the retirement pension of former Economy Minister Manuel Pinho in the framework of the EDP case, according to the ruling to which Lusa had access. Among the seized assets that will be returned are wine, a piece of crafts, a fins and a bag of golf clubs.
The TRL decision partially upholds the appeal filed last December by the ex-governor’s defense and goes in the same direction as the revocation made in October 2022. In addition to receiving the pension again, the ruling states that it will be “all amounts returned”Since the embargo decreed on 01/25/2022”.
On that occasion, the judges revoked the embargo of Manuel Pinho’s monthly renewal of 26,000 euros, which was later seized again, after a request from the Public Ministry and an order from Judge Carlos Alexandre, to now be annulled again.
The Lisbon Relation also ordered the return of the assets seized in the house searches of the former minister on November 3 (wines, a piece of crafts, a fins and a bag of golf clubs) because “there was no reference in the appealed order to the fact that the assets seized here are instruments of the crimes charged, nor the product thereof.”
The former Minister of Economy (between 2005 and 2009) Manuel Pinho will be tried for a crime of passive corruption for an illegal act, another of passive corruption, a crime of money laundering and a crime of tax fraud.
His wife, Alexandra Pinho, will be tried for a crime of money laundering and another for tax fraud -in material co-authorship with her husband-, while the former president of the BES, Ricardo Salgado, will be tried for a crime of Corruption to carry out an illegal act , a crime of active corruption and another of money laundering.
Source: Observadora
