Judge Rui Rangel is accused of corruption allegations
Lex Operation
31 JANUARY 2018
00:44
David Mandim
Fátima Galante, also adjudicating judge, was constituted defendant. The case, in which five people were arrested, has eleven defendants. Luís Filipe Vieira was searched
Rui Rangel and ex-wife Fátima Galante were surprised yesterday morning when elements of the Judicial Police (PJ) began searches in their residences that extended to their offices in the superior court where they are placed. The two adjudicating judges of the Court of Appeal of Lisbon were yesterday constituted defendants by suspicions of influence peddling and corruption. The case in question, known as Lex by the PJ and which is the result of a certificate taken from the Rotas do Atlântico case in which businessman José Veiga is the main defendant, also involves the president of Benfica, Luís Filipe Vieira, also yesterday subject to house searches, and led to the arrest of four men and one woman, two lawyers and a third bailiff. In total there are eleven defendants constituted.
At the end of the day, the Attorney General's Office (PGR) clarified that the investigation is due to suspected crimes of trafficking in influence, corruption / misappropriation, money laundering and tax fraud. In the note, the PGR explains that, in addition to the five detainees, "the proceedings led to the formation of six more defendants, including two judges and a sports chief," not clarifying whether it is Luís Filipe Vieira. Sources linked to the suit say yes, but Benfica denied yesterday that its president was accused. The two judges were not detained because of legal impossibility, since Article 16 of the Statute of Judicial Magistrates provides that they can only be held in flagrante delicto.
The detainees are now heard in the Supreme Court by José Souto de Moura, the former attorney general of the Republic, who is a judge-counselor in the STJ and assumes in this case the role of examining magistrate. Souto de Moura accompanied yesterday the diligences, having been in the searches in the house of the judge Rui Rangel, in Algés. But for this case involving magistrates, the MP is represented by the coordinator of the prosecutors in the STJ, Paulo Sousa, aided by the DCIAP.
The police investigation is from the National Anti-Corruption Unit of PJ, which, in a statement, revealed that "during the operation 33 searches were carried out, 20 of which were domiciled, three were law firms, seven were companies and three were job posts ". The PGR added that there were searches in Lisbon Court of Appeals, law offices and other places in Greater Lisbon, including Estádio da Luz and Luís Filipe Vieira's house, and in the Algarve.
At stake will be suspected dating back to 2016, when the Rotas do Atlântico operation began, targeting businessman José Veiga for tax fraud and money laundering. At the time, the name of Rui Rangel - who in 2012 was a candidate for president of Benfica - emerged associated with Veiga. In October 2016, the Higher Council of Magistrates instituted an inquiry into the judge which, according to the Council, is still ongoing. Rui Rangel has had great media participation, sometimes controversial and that was censored by the MP in Operation Marquês. He was asked for his impediment to decide on this process, which had already been done on an appeal of the defense of Jose Socrates to whom he gave reason about the end of the secret of internal justice. The STJ gave reason to the MP and Rangel has been, since March, prevented from being judge in the case.
The ex-wife Fátima Galante is a judge in a civil section of the same court and in 1999 she was involved in a process with similar contours to it. It became suspected of selling sentences and the MP wanted to accuse her, but the Supreme Court closed the case. The main defendant of the case was the solicitor Horacio Patuleia, who died, who went to trial, with the judge to be indicated as a witness. In court she asked to be heard behind closed doors, but prosecutor Maria José Morgado refused as the collective. This case began with a complaint from two lawyers.
Benfica confirmed, in a statement, "the carrying out of searches in an investigation that is not aimed at the club," said lawyer João Correia, who called the performance of "certain sectors of the Public Prosecutor's Office" a "persecution." The lawyer denied that the president had been made an accused but admitted that he was.
https://www.dn.pt/portugal/interior/juiz-rui-rangel-e-arguido-por-suspeitas-de-corrupcao-9086292.html?utm_source=Push&utm_medium=WebOne wonders, is it superior knowledge of the law or is it superior knowledge of the judges which enables the confidence to stick right on in there to the end when all the slings and arrows appear to be aimed against you?
