Two of 17 luxury car scam accused plead not guilty

Two of the 17 defendants in a qualified luxury car fraud case pending in the Viseu court pleaded not guilty this Wednesday.

The defendants began to be heard after the trial was postponed several times for various reasons: the strike of the bailiffs, the lack of funds for the Porto prison to transport two detainees and the need to hospitalize one of them.

According to the prosecution, the defendants were involved in a plan to deceive people who offered expensive cars (such as Ferrari, Porsche and Mercedes) for sale on Internet sites (Olx and Standvirtual).

Of the 17 defendants charged with 133 offenses of skilled fraud, forgery and possession of weapons, 13 were in court in Viseu this Wednesday, and only two wanted to testify.

One of them said that his activity consisted in buying and selling cars, but of low cost, and as for expensive ones, he participates only as an intermediary, receiving a commission.

Asked about his involvement in the Nissan GTR deal, he said that once, when he was in Badajoz, two defendants offered to sell it for 60-70 thousand euros, after contacting a friend who thought he would be interested. .

According to the defendant, the deal did not take place because his friend thought that there were problems with the documentation for the car, and it seemed strange to him that the price had dropped so much in two or three days of negotiations.

However, he admitted that he lent the two defendants a thousand euros for paperwork, because he knew their families, who, like him, were of gypsy ethnicity and could not “treat each other badly.”

Also speaking in the morning was a Brazilian lawyer practicing in Figueira da Foz, who is charged only with the crime of forgery and is guaranteed not to have been involved in any case or complicity in efforts with other defendants.

The lawyer said that in order to avoid contacts due to the covid-19 pandemic, clients at the counter were received by his secretary, who identified them, and then brought him documents for identification.

Although he does not specifically remember recognizing the signature in the indictment – not least because it was one of 114 acts he has committed since he began practicing law in Portugal – he admitted to being the official lawyer one of the defendants, who is also Brazilian.

In the afternoon, Joana Teixeira, Inspector of the Judicial Police (PJ), Vila Real, was heard and identified the latter as the “brains” of the group.

He was “the most capable, the most insightful to play the part of an interlocutor” with the victims, was considered “quite intelligent” and eloquent, he explained.

According to the SP inspector, there were five more defendants in the “core” who “conversed a lot with each other on the phone.”

In his opinion, the expensive car scam was not one of those cases where “a thief makes an opportunity” because “they invested a lot in this kind of activity and gravitated all over the country”, scouting for high cylinders. containers that individuals put up for sale on Internet sites.

The inspector explained that the defendants told the victims that they were interested in buying cars, posing as surgeons who owned clinics in Portugal and Spain.

After closing the deal, they sent “false evidence of bank transfers” to the victims using photo montages, and before the car owners realized they had been scammed, the property registration had already been changed and the cars were on their way to Spain for sale.

On several occasions, a lawyer representing the four defendants (including one who is considered a “brain”) disputed the fact that the inspector consulted her personal records of the investigation, but the chairman of the panel of judges considered that there were no violations.

The next court hearing is scheduled for April 12, and testimony from other SP inspectors and victims is awaited.

AMF // JEF

Lusa/The End