The lawyer for the mayor of Funchal, one of the three arrested on Wednesday on suspicion of corruption in Madeira, refused this Saturday to provide any information about the existing evidence in the case, including the money found in the mayor’s house.
“I cannot guarantee in front of the television cameras, while the process has not yet begun, what will happen inside,” said lawyer Paulo Sa e Cunha, representing the mayor of Funchal Pedro Calado (PSD), after being questioned about the alleged money found by the judicial police in the mayor’s house.
A spokesman for the mayor of Funchal spoke to reporters outside the Central Court of Criminal Investigation in Lisbon, where three people arrested on Wednesday on suspicion of corruption in Madeira begin questioning this Saturday after being identified on Friday.
Late on Friday, CNN Portugal reported that Judicial Police (PJ) inspectors found 20,000 euros worth of banknotes in the home of Mayor Pedro Calado, as well as another 10,000 euros hidden in his mother’s home.
When confronted with the news, lawyer Paulo Sae Cunha declined to comment, saying it was necessary to “clarify all this.”
“I understand that you have a public interest in resolving these issues. My role as a lawyer is to provide protection to my constituent, and this does not mean that I am now waiting for answers to your legitimate questions, that is, it is only Legitimate that you are interested in knowing things like my refusal to answer questions because my the role is not to answer questions,” said a spokesman for the mayor of Funchal.
Regarding Pedro Calado’s state of mind, the lawyer said that “he was going through all this documentation, the evidence that he would now have to face, and preparing the statements that he would have to make,” noting that his client would be the last to make a statement. make statements.
Before Paulo Sa e Cunha, lawyer Andre Navarro de Noronha arrived in court defending businessman Custodio Correia, one of three detained on suspicion of corruption in Madeira.
The last to arrive in court was lawyer Raul Soares da Veiga, an agent of one of the detained businessmen Avelino Fariña.
When asked whether the trial would reveal that one of the compensations from businessman Avelino Fariña to the president of the regional government (PSD/CDS-PP) Miguel Albuquerque was payment for a luxury vacation, lawyer Raúl Soares da Veiga replied: “I don’t know anything about this, and in This is not included in the prosecution’s charges.”
Raul Soares da Veiga added that businessman Avelino Fariña is “absolutely confident in himself.”
Three people arrested on Wednesday on suspicion of corruption in Madeira, including the mayor of Funchal, will be heard from 10am at Lisbon’s Central Criminal Court, but enforcement action will not be known until next week, judicial source Lusa said
The arrests of two businessmen and the mayor of Funchal followed an operation that also affected the president of the regional government (PSD/CDS-PP), Miguel Albuquerque, who was named as a defendant and announced on Friday that he would leave his position.
According to the Judicial Police, these include suspicions of active and passive corruption, economic participation in business, malfeasance, improperly obtaining or offering advantages, abuse of power and abuse of influence.
On Friday morning the detainees were identified, and this Saturday during interrogation they will become familiar with the contents of the case.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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