The current finance minister, Fernando Medina, is formally suspected of several crimes, but to date neither the finance minister nor any of the suspected government officials have been charged in at least five cases related to the years in which the Socialist led the Lisbon Chamber.
The cases involve alleged acts of corruption, economic participation in business, prohibited party financing, malfeasance by political officeholders, influence peddling and abuse of power.
There are also many other “suspects” linked to the government body and political power in general, including the involvement of a famous football club through its top manager.
What’s funny is that this gentleman, who is currently the Finance Minister of Portugal, has been “suspected” of immense and varied financial crimes of all kinds since at least the time he was Mayor of Lisbon, in 2015, among many other cases, such as the behind-the-scenes “maneuvers” with family and friends, orchestrated at the Portuguese airline TAP, which only caused losses of billions of euros to the Portuguese taxpayers. However, this gentleman has never been charged with anything, and I strongly suspect that he never will be, because the cases expire next year. What a coincidence. Don’t open your eyes EU, there’s no need!
Corruption in Portugal takes 99% legal forms, because it is the corrupt politicians themselves who “design” the laws, and when corruption is unavoidable, judges and often the Public Ministry make a point of closing the case, unfailingly “without culprits”.
We are talking about a corrupt pact between the two center parties that alternate in power. It goes without saying that this is extremely serious and in fact reveals that democracy in Portugal is a total facade to cover up career criminals.
It should be noted that this police investigation is superfluous, because in the end, as always, there will be no real convictions and everything will be archived for the same old reason as always “no wrongdoing was found”. And in many years, the Portuguese will forget, which is not difficult at all, because at this moment they have already forgotten.
Just a “small” detail. This investigation started only eight years after an anonymous tip, yes, you read that right! Hmmm! I wonder why that is???
The following article is a translation (mostly MT). You can find the link to the original website at the end of it.
Judicial investigation into the Tutti Frutti case formally treats current ministers Fernando Medina and Duarte Cordeiro as suspects.
Everything written by the prosecutor who has been investigating the controversial Tutti Frutti case for six years now.
Fernando Medina is formally suspected of several crimes, but, to date, neither the Finance Minister nor any of the suspected government officials have been accused.
“Medina is behaving well with us.” The alleged pact between PS and PSD to divide the capital’s councils.
The Public Ministry formally assumes suspicions on Fernando Medina, current Minister of Finance, for various crimes in at least five cases, to which TVI and CNN Portugal had access, and which are related to the years in which the socialist led the Chamber of Lisbon.
At issue are alleged acts of corruption, economic participation in business, prohibited party financing, malfeasance by political office holders, influence peddling and abuse of power.
There are dozens of telephone taps on third parties and hundreds of emails seized from Medina “with criminal relevance”, which reinforce the evidence of the Judiciary Police (PJ) and prosecutor Andrea Marques in relation to the cases under investigation.
Duarte Cordeiro, current Minister of the Environment – and who was Medina’s number two in the Chamber – is also considered a suspect.
“It could constitute criminal offenses committed by the current Minister of Finance, Fernando Medina”, assumes a Judiciary Police inspector in a report on the Tutti Frutti case. The same researcher details the “political agreements between Sérgio Azevedo (from PSD), Duarte Cordeiro and Fernando Medina (from PS) to place people in places for agreements and strategic positions”, in 2017.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office magistrate makes this concrete, pointing out the “issuance of false invoices and agreements with PS officials to award public contracts to companies in violation of transparency, integrity, diligence and good management of public money”.
In the Tutti Frutti case, hundreds of wiretaps and surveillances reveal alleged schemes of a central bloc of interests between PS and PSD. A regime pact described by the PJ in a case that began with mayors and senior orange (PSD) officials, but which extended to the socialist leadership in the Lisbon Chamber, in 2017.
At issue is the distribution of dozens of agreements for fictitious jobs and deals worth millions concluded with friends’ companies in direct agreements. These schemes were only possible through the control of certain parish councils in the Capital – some from the PSD, such as Estrela, Santo António or Areeiro; and others from the PS.
According to the investigation’s thesis, Fernando Medina made a secret agreement, or non-aggression pact, with PSD officials, six months before the elections, in order to present “SHITTY CANDIDATES” (an expression contained in a telephone tap on Sérgio Azevedo , from the PSD) to the orange boards, handing victory to the PSD and hoping that, in return, the PS would also have weak opposition in its election boards.
“It’s agreed with Medina that they (PS) present some shitty guys so that we can guarantee our councils (PSD)”
Furthermore, in this process Medina seems to be “plotted” by the then vice-president of the PSD bench, Sérgio Azevedo, and by the president of the Estrela board, Luís Newton, both under wiretapping. “It’s agreed with Medina that they present some shitty guys so that we can guarantee (PSD) our councils”, says Azevedo on the phone, in May 2017. “A governance agreement with pots and pans on the outside”, he reinforces.
“Medina said that in my Estrela they were going to (PS) apply for a girl from the citizens group”, Luís Newton told Sérgio Azevedo, to which he replied: “Medina is behaving well with us”. As the PSD deputy summarizes in a phone call with a journalist, “the PS was left to present weak candidates in the boards that the PSD needs”. Thus, they made an exchange and in certain councils the PSD also “presents weak candidates for the PS to win”. And he ends by saying that “WE ARE GOING TO TAKE CARE OF THE COUNTRY”.
“Medina said that in my Estrela it would be a girl from the citizens group”
In this process, Sérgio Azevedo also appears to say on the phone that he “owed favors to Medina” for the 200 thousand euros that the Chamber gave to Belenenses Rugby, for the construction of a field whose award Azevedo wants to hand over to a friend’s company, Carlos Eduardo Reis, now a PSD deputy. “It is a crime to ask Fernando Medina for a meeting without receiving anything in return”, adds the social democrat who put a finger on the mayor.
“Corruption, influence peddling, economic and business participation and prohibited financing”, are some of the crimes listed by prosecutor Andrea Marques. Such as “malfeasance” and others. This is after, in the June 2018 searches of operation Tutti Frutti, the PJ seized Fernando Medina’s email box, where hundreds of emails “with criminal relevance” were found. Some about the Tutti Frutti scheme (regime pacts with the PS), others related to other facts, or already under investigation, or whose investigation was born there: this is the case of the advisor hired by the Chamber, by Fernando Medina, for 5 thousand euros per month when his mission would be to prepare Medina’s comments on TVI and opinion columns in Correio da Manhã.
The building with 10 apartments owned by Luís Filipe Vieira’s (president of the Benfica football club) son
In the emails seized from Fernando Medina in the Tutti Frutti operation, the Judiciary Police found suspicions of other crimes in the alleged favorable relationships with different protagonists, including the then president of Benfica, Luís Filipe Vieira. “Hello Fernando”, Vieira begins by writing in an email sent to the then President of the Chamber, on March 20, 2017. In question, a wedge (pull strings) at the highest level to “unblock” a problem in private life – the IMI exemption for a property owned by the son of the president of the red club, of which Medina is a fan.
In a report by the PJ, dated May 13, 2022, it is concluded that a “situation that could eventually constitute the practice of criminal offenses, carried out by Luís Filipe Vieira, then President of Sport Lisboa e Benfica and the President of the Lisbon City Council, now Minister of Finance Fernando Medina.” Andrea Marques, the prosecutor leading the investigation, then writes here that she suspects crimes of “corruption and/or abuse of powers”.
Vieira’s wedge (pull strings) was “referring to the IMI exemption of a property sold by the company ‘Realitatis’ (…) as it would be for own and permanent housing, a request that had in ‘forward’ a request from Tiago Vieira requesting unblocking the situation.” The PJ discovered that the company that owns this building on Rua de Santa Catarina, in Lisbon, has two administrators: Sara and Tiago, both Vieira’s children.
Furthermore: it is not a house, but a building with 10 apartments. Most were sold to foreigners and, according to the investigation, none of them live there. Therefore, they would not be entitled to IMI exemption.
The investigations found at least five messages received and eight sent by Fernando Medina about this case. “It is certain that at a later time Jorge Damas (chief of staff of the mayor of Lisbon) informed Medina of the status of the aforementioned process”, reports the PJ in the process. Meanwhile, in a search for Vieira, in another context, the PJ picked up an email from Tiago Vieira thanking his father for this wedge (pull strings):
“Thank you Dad, without you it wouldn’t have been possible. It’s already singing here.”
Faced with these accusations, Fernando Medina denies “any favorable treatment to any person, entity or institution”. “The insinuation to the contrary is false”, adds the former mayor.
Pedro Guerra’s supposed request
In Medina’s office, the Judiciary Police found, in June 2018, emails relevant to a process already underway due to suspected favor links to Benfica. In question, a case also from 2018 in which the current Minister of Finance is investigated for crimes of corruption and malfeasance.
In this process, Sérgio Azevedo, then PSD deputy with a seat in the Lisbon Municipal Assembly, also appears, for allegedly having served as a ‘mole’, at the request of football commentator Pedro Guerra, affiliated with Benfica, to obtain information from the municipality about a process which exempted the club from fees worth millions of euros.
The Public Ministry says about this that “facts related to the availability by Sérgio Azevedo – municipal deputy of the AML – of a confidential document to which he had access through such functions and related to the process of exemption from pending fees at the municipality are being investigated. and involving SLB, Pedro Guerra, related to the club…”
Medina will have received at least 21 emails on the topic, which the prosecutor considers “…of great interest for establishing links between the suspects (…) for discovering the truth and for proving…”
Advise disguised as “municipal services”
When the Judiciary Police seized Fernando Medina’s email box, making what is called a “blind copy”, a “Pandora’s Box” was opened. If, in the case of regime pacts with the PSD, around 20 emails “with criminal relevance” were published,
hundreds of other suspicious emails revealed facts for other processes that target the current Minister of Finance.
This is what happens with the case of the “advisor”, revealed in more than 100 emails: the PJ discovered that the Lisbon City Council paid 5 thousand euros, between 2016 and 2017, to an advisor hired for “civil services”, when his function was to prepare Fernando Medina’s comments on TVI, where he had a weekly opinion space in his personal capacity and not as mayor, and the articles in Correio da Manhã.
Regarding this, the Public Ministry says that Medina is suspected of the crimes of “economic participation in business, embezzlement, malfeasance and/or abuse of powers.” Writes prosecutor Andrea Marques, in April 2022, that “(…) an exchange of messages was detected that could constitute the practice of criminal offenses, carried out by the then Mayor of Lisbon, now Minister of Finance, Fernando Medina .” The interlocutor of the emails with Medina was Filipe Abreu Nunes, who at the same time was an advisor to the president of the Assembly of the Republic, in 2016.
The PJ, in a report, details that Fernando Medina, in the seized emails, “suggests (to Filipe Abreu Nunes) the making of an agreement for ‘municipal services’, as a form of retribution for his ‘help'” in the opinion spaces in communication social status of the Medina citizen, in which he did not wear the role of mayor.
At issue, reinforces the magistrate, are “facts related to private and remunerated activity carried out by the Mayor of Lisbon at the time, Fernando Medina, whose contents were executed by a third party, who would be ‘paid’ for that service through a contract of fee paid for by the city council.”
The contract with TVI, which ran between 2015 and 2021, was, in fact, made privately – so much so that Medina even refused to comment on TVI on controversies involving the Lisbon municipality, so as not to mix roles. Collaborations in the media ended days before the current minister joined the government.
To receive from TVI and Correio da Manhã, where he wrote a chronicle, the PJ states that Medina had opened an activity of “artistic and literary creation”. With this, he received “amounts exempt from VAT (…) and with special IRS taxation”.
But the investigation focuses on agreements with Filipe Abreu Nunes by direct agreement: Medina began the television comments in September 2015, at the time when email exchanges with the advisor began, which lasted almost two years. There are hundreds of messages, including more than 100 with relevance to the investigation. The PJ found them in the “trash” folder: they had been sent and then deleted by Fernando Medina.
The first contract with Abreu Nunes is from July 2016, for support and advisory services to the Mayor of Lisbon, within the scope of his public interventions. And there is a new direct agreement in May 2017, for the same reasons. The contracts read that “the agenda of public interventions of the Mayor of Lisbon requires an additional contribution, (…), made by an element with solid experience in the area of public policies and political communication, who is simultaneously knowledgeable about the functioning of the powers and political priorities of the current executive of the Lisbon City Council”.
Thus, Filipe Abreu Nunes received, from July 2016 to August 2017, five thousand euros. In the emails it is clear: he was an advisor to the mayor, as stated in the contract, but also to Fernando Medina, the commentator.
Faced with these allegations, Fernando Medina denies having hired “specific assistance for my participation in the media”.
The changes to the Municipal Master Plan that will have allowed the construction of the Picoas Tower
The Judiciary Police considers the emails to be of “great probative interest” regarding facts involving Fernando Medina, Duarte Cordeiro and Manuel Salgado, three responsible for the Lisbon municipality at the time. The suspicions are of malfeasance and abuse of power.
The first suspicions pointed to Manuel Salgado, then councilor for Urbanism, denounced in particular by the council’s previous Mobility councilor Fernando Nunes da Silva. In 2018, he told the weekly newspaper ‘Sol’ that the former owner of the land where the Torre de Picoas now stands, Armando Martins, saw the council reject successive projects for two decades. And the person responsible for the refusals would be Manuel Salgado.
To Sol, Nunes da Silva said that Armando Martins wanted to build “16 or 17 thousand square meters” on the land, but the various Municipal Master Plans did not allow it. So Armando Martins decided to take out a 15 million euro mortgage on the land to BES. Later, unable to build and without the means to pay the mortgage, he ended up handing over the land to BES. At that time, according to Nunes da Silva, “the regulations for the new Municipal Master Plan had already been approved, which was under public discussion” and would allow Armando Martins to build – but this information was allegedly hidden from the owner by councilor Salgado.
There are, therefore, suspicions of favoritism to BES, which took over the land where the Picoas tower was built – and now it is known that the investigation extends to Fernando Medina and Duarte Cordeiro, with the first having seized emails with “great probative interest in the case”.
Faced with the suspicions revealed in this investigation, both Fernando Medina, Duarte Cordeiro and Carlos Eduardo Reis deny any involvement in alleged corruption schemes.
More related news
Crimes targeted at Medina and Duarte Cordeiro may expire next year
After launching the investigation into the Tutti Frutti operation, TVI did the math and detected that crimes with lower criminal charges are at the end of the deadline and may NOT EVEN BE TRIED if the Public Prosecutor’s Office does not quickly appoint defendants.
These accounts affect ALL the suspects revealed by TVI, but which the Public Prosecutor’s Office NEVER CONFRONTED with the allegations made in the process.
More related news
Henrique Machado on investigation into violation of judicial secrecy: “I dare to say that journalists will be constituted defendants first” in the Tutti Frutti case
Henrique Machado, Society editor at CNN Portugal and TVI, reacts to the statements made by the Attorney General of the Republic, Lucília Gago, who admitted the lack of resources to conclude the Tutti Frutti process, considering them “painful”.
“The mythical lack of resources is a hat that serves to disguise everything, including the incompetence of the Public Ministry,” she says.
Henrique Machado recalls that the risk of statute of limitations for some crimes is a consequence of delays in the investigation. Henrique Machado criticizes the “lack of strategy” of the Public Ministry.
Lucília Gago also revealed the opening of a case for violating legal secrecy.
“I dare to say that journalists will be constituted defendants first before the main suspects in the process” Tutti Frutti, he laments.
A country where criminals and the powerful are systematically protected to the detriment of victims and its citizens is the definition of a dictatorship, which is why Portugal should leave the EU.
PORTUGAL ROBBED ME €130.000 EUR AND SIX YEARS OF MY LIFE!
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