The prosecutors in the EDP/CMEC case must conclude the investigation before September 30, after the deputy attorney general of the Republic authorized a new request for an extension of the investigation period that existed 12 years ago, in a decision already criticized by lawyers.
According to the order of the Public Prosecutor’s Office to which Lusa had access on Monday, signed by Carlos Adérito Teixeira, the deputy attorney general decided to “extend the deadline for the closure of the investigation until September 30, 2024,” accepting the prosecutors’ justification that “an evaluation is being carried out on the validity of various evidence collected during the investigation, an evaluation that is considered relevant” to the process.
“Despite the long period of the investigation pending, the need to combine the requirements arising from the subject matter of the investigation with the requirements of safeguarding the rights of those under investigation is once again recognised. However, we cannot fail to emphasise that the investigation must be closed as soon as possibleand the proper and adequate speed must be printed,” reads the document dated June 28.
The defence of former EDP directors António Mexia and João Manso Neto has already criticised this new postponement, after the deadlines of 30 April and 30 June had previously been set and successively extended to complete the investigation.
“We believe that this investigation, which inexplicably has lasted more than 12 years, and which already has 23 requests for postponement or extension, It should have been closed a long time ago.“, said lawyers João Medeiros, Rui Costa Pereira and Inês Almeida Costa, in a reaction sent to Lusa.
According to a source linked to the process, the request of the defenses of Mexia and Manso Neto, as well as João Conceição, administrator of REN and former consultant of former minister Manuel Pinho, for the analysis of the Possible contamination of other evidence or testimony that appear in the process and that the lawyers believe originate from the 3,277 emails seized from the defendants, whose embargo was annulled by the Supreme Court of Justice in October 2023.
The EDP/CMEC case ended in December 2022 with the indictment of former minister Manuel Pinho, his wife Alexandra Pinho and former banker Ricardo Salgado for acts unrelated to the company and the Contractual Balance Maintenance Costs (CMEC), which led to the investigation being opened in 2012.
EDP case. Manuel Pinho sentenced to 10 years in prison and Ricardo Salgado sentenced to six years and three months
The trial ended in June with the former government official being sentenced to 10 years in prison and the former banker to six years and three months (in addition to Alexandra Pinho being sentenced to four years and eight months suspended).
The case has since been separated and António Mexia and João Manso Neto, accused in this case since 2017, are suspected of crimes of corruption and economic participation in business, while João Conceição is suspected of passive corruption.
The investigation investigates corrupt practices and corporate economic participation in the procedures related to the introduction of Contractual Balance Maintenance Costs (CMEC) in the national electricity sector.
Source: Observadora
