The Supreme Court (STJ) has rejected a request for the immediate release of real estate businessman Paulo Malafaya, one of the accused in Operation Babylon, which is investigating an alleged corruption scheme in city licensing processes in Gaya.
In a ruling dated June 4, which Luza reviewed this Thursday, STJ rejected the petition for habeas corpus for lack of merit, finding the petition “manifestly without merit.”
Paulo Malafaya’s defense requested the defendant’s “immediate release,” arguing that he was not notified of the charge “allegedly filed on May 16” until May 24, which should have occurred after the indictment. petition.
However, the consulting judges understood that imprisonment “does not currently continue beyond the time limits prescribed by law”, given that for the purposes of determining the end of the period of preventive detention, what is important is the date of arraignment, and not the date of notification of the defendant.
“Once the charging order has been issued, the date to be considered for determining the maximum duration of preventive detention is the date of the order, if instructions are required, or the date of conviction at first instance, which must occur within one year and four months or two years and six months respectively, depending on the case,” the STJ said in its ruling.
As a result of Operation Babylon, seven people were arrested on May 16, 2023, including then-Vice President of the Gaia Chamber Patrocinho Azevedo, businessman Paulo Malafaya and Fortera group founder Elad Dror.
The defendants also include lawyer João López, Luisa Aparicio, who at the time of the events headed the Municipal Directorate of Urbanism and Environment of the Chamber of Gaia, a Spanish economist and 10 companies, most of which belonged to the Fortera Group, with Israeli capital associated with business and real estate development.
The case relates to an alleged violation of the rules and regulations on city licensing processes in favor of promoters associated with projects of a high density and scale, with real estate interests at stake amounting to approximately €300 million, through the offer and acceptance of analogues of a monetary nature.
The investigation alleges that Elad Dror and developer Paulo Malafaya “agreed with each other to develop real estate projects in the city of Vila Nova de Gaia, namely projects called Skyline/Cultural and Congress Center, Riverside and Hotel Azul.” counting on perceived favoritism from Gaia’s former deputy, who would receive money and material goods such as watches in return.
The former mayor of Gaya, who is in pre-trial detention, is charged with five crimes of passive corruption, four crimes of malfeasance, one economic participation in a business, one peddling of influence, one abuse of power and one crime of money. money laundering and four offenses of unlawfully obtaining or offering an advantage.
Real estate businessman Paulo Malafaya, who also faces the most serious enforcement action, is charged with three counts of active corruption, three counts of malfeasance, one count of economic participation in a business, one count of money laundering, one count of influence, one count of abuse of authority and four counts of obtaining or offering an improper advantage.
The MP also charged Elad Dror with five crimes of active corruption, four of official misconduct, one of economic participation in a business, one of money laundering, one of influence peddling and four of receiving or offering an undue advantage .
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.