The court sent to trial all the defendants in the case of anti-smoking collars

The Central Criminal Court (TCIC) sent all the accused in the anti-smoking collar case to trial, fully confirming the prosecutor’s allegations.

Among the 19 defendants (14 people and five companies) are former Secretary of State for Civil Protection José Arthur Neves and former ANEPC President Murato Nunez.

The anti-smoking collar case led to the government’s resignation in 2019 in a trial over alleged crimes of subsidy fraud, economic involvement in business and abuse of power.

Reading the ruling, Judge Ana Margarida Correia ruled out the irreparable defects and invalidities cited by lawyers in the case, considering, for example, that the seizure of the defendants’ emails “does not constitute prohibited evidence” and can therefore be assessed.

Among other things, the judge also found that the defendants had committed “deliberate acts” to “conceal government procurement procedures” that gave rise to the crime of subsidy fraud.

During the investigative debate on December 19, the Office of the Public Prosecutor (OP) admitted that the evidence collected in the files was insufficient to substantiate the charge against the former Secretary of State for Civil Protection, José Arthur Neves, but this prediction was not accepted today. by the investigating judge.

In the same charges, Prosecutor David Aguilar found there was sufficient evidence in the case file to support the prosecution’s thesis that the defendants conspired to rig the government procurement process to ensure access to public funds.

The accusation was announced by a deputy in July 2022, after an investigation revealed “criminal violations in a number of public procurement procedures” as part of the “Safe Village — Safe People” program, co-financed by the Cohesion Fund. , given that damage to the state was caused in the amount of 364,980 euros, allegedly redirected in favor of the defendants.

As he left the court, António Castanheira Neves, the lawyer for former Secretary of State José Artur Neves, expressed disappointment at the decision, but above all at what he sees as the futility of the pre-trial phase.

“I am increasingly aware that the investigation is a useless stage from a procedural point of view. I have long argued that it should be legislatively excluded from the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC),” the lawyer said, also criticizing the deputy for “exceeding forecasts” regarding the need for “sufficient and consistent” evidence for the accused to proceed to trial.

Castanheira Neves, citing the fact that the judge ruled against the former secretary of state despite a lawmaker having a contrary opinion, said he was simply not surprised by the decision because “nothing surprises him anymore in the judicial world.”