The MEP’s lawyer and former mayor of Gouveia, Alvaro Amaro, said on Thursday that a possible verdict in a public-private partnership case involving three municipalities would be “a stain that will never be erased.”
“Any sentence, even if it is the euro, is a stain that will never be erased,” said Carlos Peixoto in the closing statements of the trial, which took place this Thursday morning in the Guarda court.
The lawyer asked the court to “look ahead to understand what happened behind.”
“Today I am even more convinced that the most appropriate, the most correct, the most just, the most prudent, the most reasonable decision is an acquittal. [de Álvaro Amaro]. There can be no other. From any other, to be honest, I get goosebumps,” said Carlos Peixoto.
The allegations were made by the lawyer after the defendant testified again at the Tribunal da Guarda, where the case began on May 10, 2022.
The panel of judges originally scheduled the announcement of the verdict for 10:00 today, but after statements were made by Alvaro Amaro and also defendant Luis Tadeu Marquez, the current mayor of Gouvea, the announcement of the decision was postponed to 16:00. .
Defense lawyer Luis Tadeu Márquez, who at the time was vice president of the municipality of Gouveia, also reformulated the allegations and considered that “there were no evasions”.
“We realized that the work can be carried out in a different way, not immediately, but in stages and at different times,” said Carlos Abreu.
Noting that “no prejudice is seen” in the actions, he emphasized that the aim of the defendant Luis Tadeu Márquez “was the strict observance of the law”.
“Everyone in this area [Gouveia]“Starting with citizens, then everyone who was part of the city assembly, the executive branch, wanted to carry out these works,” he stressed.
The nine defendants, who are aware of the decision of the Tribunal da Guarda this Thursday, are suspected of committing corruption offenses, political evasion, money laundering and economic involvement in business, among other things, in a PPP scheme allegedly damaging the accounts of the municipalities of Trancoso, Alcobaça and Gouveia in the period from 2007 to 2011.
Among them, in addition to Alvaro Amaro and Luis Tadeu Marquez, Alcobaza mayor (then Vice President) Herminio Rodríguez and former Trancoso mayor Julio Sarmento.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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