The trial of former Caminha mayor Miguel Alves and businesswoman Manuela Sousa, accused by the Public Prosecutor’s Office (MP) of the crime of malfeasance, will be decided today by the Viana do Castelo court.
The reading of the judgment is scheduled for 13:50.
In January, in their closing arguments, the Public Prosecutor’s Office asked for the conviction of the two defendants, who were accused of malfeasance of a political office holder.
The public prosecutor argued that the documentary evidence and the rules of experience validated the facts contained in the indictment.
“By convicting, this court will do justice,” he said.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office accuses Miguel Alves – who resigned as the Prime Minister’s Assistant Secretary of State after learning of the indictment – of having violated public procurement rules when he agreed with the businesswoman on communication consultancy services for the municipality (in the district of Viana do Castelo) “without any public procurement procedure”.
The indictment issued by the Porto Regional Department of Investigation and Criminal Action (DIAP), to which Lusa had access, states that the case originated from an “anonymous complaint made on the DCIAP Portal [Central Department of Investigation and Criminal Action]” on July 3, 2019.
According to the indictment, in 2014, Miguel Alves and Manuela Sousa, who at the time of the events used the surname Couto, “maintained contacts with a view to providing communication, image management and advisory services to the municipality through the companies MIT and Mediana”, owned and controlled by the defendant.
For the former mayor’s lawyer Miguel Alves, the facts produced in the trial “do not support the accusation” and he pointed out that cases like this “discredit the institutions, shake the democratic system and are enemies of the rule of law”.
José João Torrinha said that the panel of judges “will not only do justice” by acquitting the former mayor, but “will actively contribute to the prestige of justice and the defense of the rule of law”.
The businesswoman’s lawyer based his defense strategy on the fact that for there to be malfeasance there would have to be a contract for work carried out before April 2015, the date of the first contractual procedure between the municipality and Manuela Sousa’s company.
“There is no malfeasance from a criminal point of view, because there is no contractual process,” stressed Nuno Brandão, calling for the businesswoman’s acquittal.
At the start of the trial, both Miguel Alves and Manuela Sousa denied any irregularity in hiring the communications consultancy.
“If I committed any irregularities, it was with [Manuela Sousa’s] company,” Miguel Alves said during the trial, admitting in court that he took advantage of the company because, knowing that he was hoping to win a contract with Caminha council, he played the “cat and mouse game”.
