The Castelo Branco court acquitted this Thursday the former president of the city council of Fundão, Manuel Frexes, accused of malfeasance, embezzlement, economic participation in a business and forgery of documents.
Manuel Frexes was accused of committing these crimes while he was president of the Fundan municipal council in the Castelo Branco district from 2007 to 2011.
Prosecutors also charged the businessman and a local government employee with malfeasance by a political official, economic involvement in a business, embezzlement by a political official and forgery.
Reading out the verdict, the judge explained that the court did not prove that the defendants acted together, and also did not act freely, voluntarily and consciously,” and also did not prove that they committed “official crimes, participation in business, embezzlement, falsification of documents, unlawful receipt benefits and unlawful obtaining of benefits under aggravating circumstances.”
According to the judge, it was proven that contracts had been awarded and there were also inspection contracts that were not carried out, which, according to the court, was due to problems in the administrative organization of the municipality.
Taking into account the facts, the Castelo Branco court acquitted the defendants of all crimes with which they were accused.
At the end of the meeting, the former mayor expressed to reporters his “relief after a long and slow process.”
“This process has greatly impacted my life. I was accused of malfeasance, of economic participation in business, and I was sure that I had never committed this. I was always sure of this. I know what I did and I know that the result can only be this: I feel great joy in my soul that I was able to prove it thanks to my defense,” said Manuel Frexes.
The former mayor stressed that when he became an accused in 2019, he devoted himself solely to proving his innocence and the righteousness with which he carried out his mandate and how he protected the public interest.
“We achieved the result that I wanted, and I was convinced that this would be the result,” he emphasized.
When asked whether he would resume his political life, Manuel Frexes limited himself to answering that he would be able to follow his path as “a free man, subject to the rule of law.”
Manuel Frexes was charged in 2019 while he was a member of the Assembly of the Republic and president of the Castelo Branco district of the PSD.
After suspicions, he resigned from the district and did not apply for the position of deputy again.
In a letter he sent to activists in June 2019, he stressed that he had a “clear conscience” and found the “media condemnation” he said he was subjected to “unacceptable” and “intolerable.”
Prior to this, in March 2019, when the suspicions were made public, Manuel Frexes had already stated in a press conference that he would clarify in the appropriate place “all the doubts and suspicions” attributed to him as President of the House of Representatives. He and Fundau stressed that they always protect the public interest.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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