This Thursday, the Ministry of Justice (MP) requested a prison sentence of eight to 10 years for football businessman Cesar Boaventura, one of the main defendants in the “Operation Malapata” case, whose trial continues in Porto.
The prosecutor argued that all the charges brought against Boaventura were proven and he appeared in the closing arguments held in the court of Sant Joan Novo four months after the last hearing, and that he was responsible for five crimes of qualified fraud, three of which forgery, one tax fraud and one money laundering.
“In our opinion, the defendant’s version is not credible and should be rejected. During interrogation, he gave contradictory and illogical explanations,” the deputy said.
Cesar Boaventura’s lawyer, Carlos Melo Alves, asked for his client to be acquitted, guaranteeing that he had not yet been notified of the existence of the document that was presented as evidence by the deputy and which was forged by Cesar Boaventura.
The lawyer also criticized the fact that Ali Barat, an English businessman and his Portuguese colleague’s partner in a number of businesses, was not named as a defendant in the case given the “contradictions he consistently showed” in his evidence in court.
As for the rest of the defendants in the so-called Operation Malapata, which investigates player transfers and bank accounts in which thousands of euros were in circulation, the deputy demanded a sentence “close to the legal minimum”, but after execution it was postponed.
The hearing began without hearing the two missing witnesses, Portuguese-Canadian businessman José Lima and Paulo Lopo, former president of SAD Leixões, II Liga, and the current head of the professional football authority Estrela da Amador, I Liga. League.
José Lima was not found in the investigations by Canadian authorities, and SAD leader da Reboleira was notified but was not present in the Porto court or appeared via video link, prompting a panel of judges to retract that testimony. due to the length of the investigation.
The announcement of the decision will take place on July 11 at 9:30 in the court of São João Novo.
In February, Cesar Boaventura was sentenced to a total of three years and four months in prison, suspended, for three crimes related to active corruption in football.
The Matosinhos court proved that former Rio Ave players Cassio, Marcelo and Lyonne were hired to facilitate the fight against Benfica in the 2015/16 season in exchange for financial and contractual compensation, but cleared the businessman of attempted corruption against the former. Maritimo goalkeeper Romain Salen.