“I never asked him for anything,” “he did me no favor,” repeated this Friday the 72-year-old businessman Gumersindo Lourenço in the Coimbra court, where he is being tried for corruption of a public servant who served as secretary to various ministers and secretaries of state economy. The defendant, a hotel and spa owner, is accused of offering mountain cheese and staying at a hotel in Penafiel in exchange for “simplifying and streamlining” administrative procedures related to his business group.
Gumercindo Lourenço assured that he never saw “any harm” in the proposals, denying that they were compensation for benefits. “It was a matter of respect and courtesy,” he explained, adding that the accused only took care to explain the situation to him. “I don’t know where they got this evil from,” he insisted. Teresa Saraiva, 65, is accused of passive corruption, but chose to remain silent in court.
The ruling states that the defendant, at the request of the businessman, even offered the cheese to Pedro Goncalves, then Secretary of State for Innovation, Investment and Competitiveness, but he refused. The investigation, which is being investigated by the Center’s judicial police, involves four corruption crimes committed between 2014 and 2019.