Sentencing of court administrator accused of embezzlement postponed for second time

The announcement of the decision of a 65-year-old court administrator suspected of embezzling nearly half a million euros from bankrupt companies was postponed for the second time by an Aveiro court on Tuesday.

At the beginning of the hearing, the defendant asked to give additional testimony, reporting an insignificant change in the facts stated in the indictment, and the court allowed the exercise of this right.

The defense also intended to question two more witnesses, but the court rejected their request.

Following the meeting, new accusations were made, and the announcement of the decision was scheduled for the 17th.

This procedure was originally scheduled for September 19, but was postponed due to the notification to the defendant of a minor change in the facts of the charge.

The defendant, who was preventively suspended from practicing as a court administrator and is currently active, is charged with two embezzlement offenses.

The facts took place between 2015 and 2017, when the defendant allegedly embezzled sums of money belonging to two insolvent estates in two trials held in the commercial courts of Coimbra and Lisbon.

According to investigators, the defendant made transfers to his account and withdrew cash several times without supporting documents, without the permission and knowledge of the creditors’ committee, embezzling about 495 thousand euros.

In the indictment, the Office of the Public Prosecutor (MP) alleges that the defendant knew that the aforesaid amount belonging to the two insolvent estates for which he was responsible for the management did not belong to him, making it his own, thereby placing himself to the detriment of the insolvent estates and the 3rd.

In addition to the criminal conviction, a request was also made to declare the loss to the state of the benefits received by the defendant from criminal practices in the specified amount.