The Lisbon Court of Appeal upheld the acquittal of five GPS school administrators

The Lisbon Court of Appeal (TRL) rejected the appeal of the Office of the Public Prosecutor (MP) in the GPS schools case, finding that “the appeal against the decision is closed” and accusing the MP of wanting to re-examine the facts. .

Thus, the Lisbon Court confirmed the decision of the first instance acquitting the five directors of the GPS group, accused of embezzlement, forgery and qualified fraud for the misappropriation of more than 30 million euros of public funding for the provision of public education services.

“It was not proven that there was any damage to the state, nor that the defendants had illegally enriched themselves, nor even that they had such an intention,” the decision dated January 24 said.

In response to the decision, defense spokesman Mario Diogo said that the GPS group “includes respect for the rule of law in its values, where it naturally emphasizes respect for judicial decisions, which it will calmly await, final and indisputable.” The TRL decision upholding the acquittal was made at first instance and “therefore leaves the reaction to a later date.”

In the resolution, the team emphasizes that “resources, by definition, are intended not for re-testing, but for correcting errors.”

“In this case, the deputy does not prove an error – the evidence cannot be qualified as expert evidence until it is correctly recognized as documentary – and does not demonstrate the influence of the error on the decision,” the team says. having decided that its rapporteur is Judge Rui Teixeira.

The assessment confirming the understanding of the first instance is related to one of the main arguments of the deputy, who insisted that the financial analysis carried out by the experts of the judicial police on the banking and accounting data of GPS Group should be considered expert evidence, that is, it was of an indisputable nature, which was denied by TRL , confirming the decision made at the preliminary investigation stage.

“Having analyzed the evidence in question, we do not see that, in addition to the work of compiling and systematizing documents, they reflect added value in relation to the documents underlying them. Expertise, by definition, represents added value to the underlying elements,” the team states.

The judges also rejected accusations of inaccuracies in the assessment of the facts, accusing the deputy of not indicating which facts were poorly assessed at first instance, and did not justify why they deserve a different assessment: “Having re-read the entire final appeal filed, we do not see any noticeable errors in test scoring.”

Regarding the charges brought, the collective restores the jurisprudence established by the Supreme Court (STJ) in relation to social sector workers, according to which also in the case of GPS schools, which are private in nature, it is not possible to apply the concept of a public servant for administrators to obtain public funds to provide services, thereby denying the possibility of them committing the crime of embezzlement.

The STJ decision in question had already changed the situation at the trial stage, when at the first hearing the parliamentary prosecutor invoked it to exclude embezzlement offenses from the charges, which were later reinstated by the prosecutor who brought the charges, Andrea Marques. who replaced the original prosecutor in the case and fully reinstated the indictment in closing arguments.

TRL considered that none of the crimes of which the deputy is accused has been proven, therefore “the appealed decision is completely correct.”

The team also comments on the deputy’s appeal, accusing him of being uneducated and “neglecting” the “duties of politeness,” accusing the court of making decisions based on preconceived ideas, that is, partially, without “at the time” raising this issue.

“Education and good manners must be preserved. Courts and procedural actors, namely magistrates and lawyers, should be a shining example of these values. (…) Nothing can be done at the right time, come and do it now. such an accusation is completely ineffective in changing the essence of the fact, since it does not correspond to the arguments of fact or law. “It is merely a persuasive, unsubstantial statement whose only usefulness is to defeat the above-mentioned duties of comity,” the ruling said.

Five GPS group school administrators were tried on September 16, 2021 for embezzlement, forgery and qualified fraud, and were acquitted in February 2022.

The GPS group managers António Calvete, Fernando Manuel Catarino, Agostinho dos Santos Ribeiro, Manuel Márquez Madama and António Márquez Madama were on trial; even at the pre-trial stage, they were cleared of charges of active corruption and breach of trust.

According to the indictment, the defendants embezzled more than €30 million of the more than €300 million received by schools to finance association agreements with the state, which provide public funding to private educational institutions to guarantee access to compulsory education.