[ad_1]
The former Defense Minister revealed today, in the Tancos case trial, that he prayed that the meeting held during the visit of the President of the Republic to the warehouses on July 4, 2017, “would end soon.”
Azeredo Lopes began to be interrogated this afternoon in the case in which he is accused, whose trial takes place in Santarém, having confessed that, on the day that Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa visited the Tancos warehouses, where days before military material had been stolen , “The atmosphere was confusing, there were a lot of people” and he wanted the meeting “to end soon”.
It was at that meeting, he said, that the former director of the Military Judicial Police Luis Vieira, also accused in the process, defended that the investigation should be coordinated by the PJM, since the crime had occurred within military installations, also reporting of your disgust.
Regarding the visit to the national stores, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa asks “the investigation of everything, from top to bottom, to the end, is donated to the wounded” and the Public Ministry (MP) opens an investigation into what happened due to suspicion of association criminal, arms trafficking. International and terrorism, the investigation is led by the Judicial Police (PJ), in collaboration with the Military Judicial Police (PJM), a fact that Luis Vieira does not like.
During the visit, according to the former minister, Luis Vieira commented on the existence of an informant (Locks) and that there was already previous information that there could be an assault on the warehouses, a fact that “generated astonishment in the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces “. “, having criticized Luis Vieira for not informing the Army and thus preventing measures to prevent crime from being taken.
In the statements, the minister insisted that he is not close to Luis Vieira – as indicated by the prosecution – and reiterated that, in the two meetings he held with the colonel and his chief of staff, General Martins Pereira, former director of PJM. He expressed his displeasure at the elimination of the MYM, but never asked for their intervention.
Azeredo Lopes also highlighted the “virulent tone” of the call between Luis Vieira and Joana Marques Vidal, former PGR, who had opposing understandings about who should be the leader of the investigation of crimes in military installations.
Regarding his call with the former PGR, Azeredo Lopes stated that Joana Marques Vidal expressed her displeasure at not having been previously informed that the weapons had been found (on October 18 in Chamusca) by the PJM, that is, before a press release was published and that the behavior of the military investigators could lead to disciplinary action.
In view of this position, he said: “I requested a pardon from the PGR.”
When asked if he was aware of the memorandum and the time tape on the events in Tancos, Azeredo Lopes reiterated that “he did not remember having received and read them.”
“They informed me and I learned the essentials: first, there was an informant, from the Algarve, and his name was Datedura and he was an informer of the two policemen and he feared reprisals from the Judicial Police and that there had been no anonymous call,” he said.
The testimony of the former head of the National Defense portfolio continues on Thursday.
Azeredo Lopes, who resigned in October 2018, is accused of four crimes: denial of justice and embezzlement, personal favoring of an employee, abuse of power and denial of justice.
Ten defendants answer in court for criminal association, trafficking and mediation of weapons and terrorism, for involvement in the theft of weapons and the remaining 13, among them Azeredo Lopes, two elements of the PJM and several soldiers of the GNR, on the commissioning scene / cover-up that was based on the recovery of material, in the Chamusca region, in an operation that involved the PJM, in collaboration with elements of the GNR of Loulé.
