The Court of Appeal of Porto confirmed this Thursday the acquittal of Rui Moreira, mayor of Porto, of the crime of malfeasance in the Selminho case. The news is advanced by the Jornal de Notícias.
Contrary to the conviction of the Public Ministry (MP), the Court considers that “it has not been proven that the accused made any decision on the fate of the action that was being carried out in the Administrative and Fiscal Court of Porto or that the judicial transaction and the arbitration agreement had been carried out by determination and in accordance with the instructions of the accused.”
The Court of Appeal of Porto dismissed the appeal filed by the Public Ministry after the acquittal of the mayor of Porto, Rui Moreira, in the Selminho case, reveals the decision to which Lusa had access.
Rui Moreira was tried for the crime of prevarication, accused of favoring the family’s real estate company (Selminho), of which he was a partnerto the detriment of the municipality of Porto, in the legal dispute between the municipality and the real estate agency, which intended to build a residential building on land in Calçada da Arrábida.
In the appeal filed, the Public Ministry (MP) reiterated that Rui Moreira wanted to benefit the Selminho real estate company, insisting on the mayor’s conviction and the loss of the current mandate.
In Wednesday’s decision, to which Lusa had access, the judges of the Porto Court of Appeal agreed “The appeal filed by the Public Ministry is unfounded”????????
“Although the defendant was prevented from granting the aforementioned power of attorney due to a possible conflict of interest, due to having personal/family ties with the plaintiff Selminho, it was no longer demonstrated that the defendant had made any decision about the fate of the action that terms were taking place in the Administrative and Fiscal Court of Porto or that the judicial transaction and the arbitration commitment had taken place by determination and in accordance with the instructions of the defendant,” the document reads.
The judges also add that such facts do not comply with “the crime of prevarication.”
For the court of first instance, the “direct intervention [de Rui Moreira]or by an interposed person”, in order to “conduct or instruct” the process, by the mayor with the municipal officials, who, in the opinion of the court, always acted in the “safeguarding the interests of the municipality”????????
For the Court of São João Novo, “the only intervention” of Rui Moreira in the process was that, on November 28, 2013, a few weeks after taking office, a power of attorney with special powers was granted to the lawyer Pedro Neves de Sousa. , after being advised by his then chief of staff, Azeredo Lopes.
The forensic power was used so that the lawyer represented the municipality in the preliminary hearing on January 10, 2014, in the Administrative and Fiscal Court (TAF) of Porto, where the agreement with the real estate company, which had filed a lawsuit, began to be negotiated. in this case in court against the municipality.
Source: Observadora
