The Court of Appeal of Porto (TRP) has ordered a repeat of the ruling that sentenced four people to between six and 12 years in prison, including a former bank manager, for defrauding the Montepio bank of 2.8 million euros.
In a decision dated June 29, which Lusa had access to today, the appellate judges decided to order a retrial for a new trial on its entire subject matter following appeals filed by the defendants.
The decision comes after the TRP overturned in September 2020 certain rulings issued by the Judge-President of the Tribunal da Feira team that heard the case and, as a result, ordered the reopening of hearings on issues raised in those rulings. will be decided by the collective court.
Following the resumption of hearings, the Feira Tribunal on June 1, 2021, sentenced all those accused for the same crimes, upholding the sentences originally applied.
Dissatisfied with the decision, the defendants again appealed to the Court of Appeal, which concluded that the decision on the merits of the case, expressed in the contested decision, “is not clear”, but at the same time is “manifestly contradictory” and contains “shortcomings” in that case. .
Among several points, the judges note that the collective court “did not implement the specific participation of all the defendants in proven situations”, and also did not actually implement the “tricks” used by the former bank manager in the context of the case. the internal organization of a bank to make loans that would otherwise not be made.
In September 2019, the Feira court found that the defendants forced the Montepio bank to provide unpaid loans to individuals and legal entities, embezzling about 1.1 million euros.
During the announcement of the verdict, the presiding judge stated that by such behavior, the defendants caused damage to the institution by about 2.8 million euros.
The most severe punishment was applied to the former branch manager of Santa Maria da Feira do Montepio Geral, who was in charge of authorizing loans.
This defendant was sentenced to 12 years in prison for 36 offenses of qualified fraud and one offense of money laundering, and for paying 2.8 million euros to Caixa Económica Montepio Geral along with other defendants.
The auto and real estate dealer, who would have been the main beneficiary of money derived from criminal activity, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for 20 offenses of qualified fraud and one offense of money laundering.
He was also sentenced for the crime of possession of prohibited weapons and fined 240 days at the rate of eight euros per day, totaling 1,920 euros.
The court also sentenced a lawyer detained in another case and a woman to eight and six years’ imprisonment respectively for various fraud and money laundering offenses.
The four defendants were also acquitted of the crime of the criminal association of which they were accused, since, according to the presiding judge, it has not been proven that they constituted an “organized and stable group”.
Most of the loans were made to “companies on the spot”, which the defendants are credible and justify with false documents. Most of these companies were not even engaged in economic activity.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
