The Supreme Court (STJ) has confirmed the conviction of former Chamber President and Vice President Alijo Arthur Cascarejo and Aderit Figueira for crimes related to malfeasance within municipal powers from 2001 to 2013.
The decision, dated January 31, which Lusa read this Monday, rejected the appeals filed by the accused, upholding the decision of the Guimarães Office that sentenced them to suspended sentences, overturning the acquittal of the first instance.
On July 14, 2023, the Real Court of Vila acquitted Arthur Cascarejo and the Vice-President of the Chamber, Alijo Aderita Figueira, for crimes related to malfeasance in the performance of municipal works carried out in accordance with the three municipal mandates by which they were elected by the PS.
Dissatisfied with this decision, the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) appealed to the Guimarães court, which sentenced Arthur Cascarejo to one sentence of four years and three months’ imprisonment for three malfeasance, and Aderita Figueira to five years’ imprisonment. Prison for four malfeasance. Both sentences were suspended after execution for a period of four years.
At the time, the former president of the municipality of Alijo, Arthur Cascarejo, considered that he had been the subject of an “injustice” that had been “going on for almost 10 years” and announced that he would appeal the decision to the STJ, which has now confirmed the conviction.
The process, which began in 2014, involved additional work on 17 public works, including the construction of a bathhouse in the municipality, carried out without any prior approval and without any check of the budgetary adequacy of the associated costs. , improvement of roads, work in schools and repair of dilapidated walls.
The Court of Appeal found that, contrary to the arguments that determined the acquittal at first instance, the defendants acted with “the intention of being successively re-elected to office in the municipal elections in Alijo in 2001/2005, 2005/2009 and 2009.” /2013 and in favor of contractors/contractors.”
“On project after project, defendants, in flagrant and clear violation of applicable regulations, verbally authorized additional work at a cost almost always exceeding 100% of the original bid price, with delays that lasted hundreds of days without penalties. …to the detriment of the municipality’s treasury,” the court ruling says.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
I’m Dave Martin, and I’m an experienced journalist working in the news industry. As a part of my work, I write for 24 News Reporters, covering mostly sports-related topics. With more than 5 years of experience as a journalist, I have written numerous articles on various topics to provide accurate information to readers.