Ana Gomes was found guilty of aggravated libel this Friday. It has been proven that he slandered Mario Ferreira and he will have to pay a fine of 2,800 euros and compensation of eight thousand euros.
The former MEP called the businessman a “fraudster” in a Twitter post.
“Aimed at assistant [Mário Ferreira] as a businessman, but also as a person and a citizen, which has an impact on his life,” said the judge at the Bollana court in Porto, where the verdict was read.
Moreover, the judge found that the use of the term “fraudster” was not “merely harsh criticism” because it affected the businessman’s “image and credibility” among everyone who read the tweet.
On February 18, 2022, Ana Gomes began to be tried for gross defamation against Mario Ferreira after a long dispute between them.
It was about comments about a businessman from the group Mystic Invest/Douro Azul and TVI, issued by a former member of the European Parliament on the SIC Notícias TV channel and on the social network Twitter following investigations and searches related to the subconcession Estaleiros Navais de Viana do Castelo (ENVC) and shipping companies.
In response to a tweet by Prime Minister António Costa after participating in the christening of MS World Explorer on April 7, 2019 (a package created at ENVC on the initiative of the Mystic Invest group), former presidential candidate Ana Gomes complained that the Head of Government was a “known fraudster/ tax criminal” as a large businessman, and also qualified the sale of the Atlantis ferry as a “scam”.