University of Lisbon professor sentenced to seven years in prison for natural gas theft

The Guimarães Court of Appeal has confirmed the sentence of a professor at the Higher Technical Institute of the University of Lisbon to seven years in prison for natural gas theft, the Office of the Prosecutor General of the Porto region said on Thursday.

In a note published on its page, the prosecutor’s office adds that suspended sentences were also confirmed for two other defendants, who also appealed the decision of the first instance.

“We remind you that it was proven that from 2004 to 2012 in Vila do Conde, Vila Nova de Famalicão, Santo Tirso and Guimarães, these defendants and two others diverted natural gas, using it without paying the corresponding remuneration, manipulating existing valves. in the pipeline network for this purpose, using “pipe reels”, making pirated connections or using magnetic mechanisms to prevent the count from being recorded,” the note said.

With this gas, the defendants produced, through a cogeneration process, electricity, which they sold to the Portuguese Electric System, as well as energy in the form of heat, which they sold to companies that needed it for their industrial process.

The highest sentence – seven years in prison – was handed down to a professor at the Higher Technical Institute of the University of Lisbon.

The remaining four defendants were sentenced to between three and four and a half years in prison, suspended.

All defendants were found guilty of aggravated robbery.

In total, in accordance with the decision of the first instance, they will have to return to Portgás and EDP Gás more than 5.1 million euros – the cost of the gas they redirected.

According to the court, the defendants formulated a plan to capture large volumes of liquefied natural gas to produce electricity and heat through the process of cogeneration.

As part of this plan, the defendants “appropriated” natural gas that they used to generate power at thermal power plants that they owned in cogeneration companies.

These companies located their facilities in the same physical space as textile companies whose energy operations were powered by natural gas or thermal energy from cogeneration.

For the theft of gas, according to the court, the defendants either manipulated valves in the pipeline network, or established “pirate connections”, or used magnetic mechanisms.

“They pursued the goal of acquiring large volumes of natural gas, which have a very high economic value, and integrated them into their assets, knowing full well that it did not belong to them and they had no right to it,” the court says. .

In response to the accusation, the defendants fought for acquittal, denying that they had committed a crime and claiming, in particular, that they had only “formal contacts” with the thermal power plant and “remote control” over them.