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It is about the appointment of the Portuguese magistrate José Guerra on July 27 as a European national prosecutor in the European Union (EU) Prosecutor’s Office, an independent body to combat fraud.
SIC and Expresso reported that, in a letter sent to the European Union, the executive presents false data about the Government’s favorite magistrate for a European prosecutor, José Guerra, after a committee of experts considered Ana Carla Almeida as the best candidate for the office.
In the letter, to which SIC and Expresso had access, José Guerra is identified with the category of “deputy attorney general”, which he does not have, being only a prosecutor, and for having had a participation of “investigative and accusatory leadership”. in the UGT case, which is not true either, because he was the magistrate chosen by the Public Ministry to hand down the sentence, and not the prosecution.
Following this news, the Ministry of Justice admits in a statement that in the note it sent to the Council of the European Union “in which it intended to highlight data on the professional resume of candidate José Eduardo Guerra and highlighted support for the decision made by the national jury “there are” two lapses “, the same one referred to by SIC and Expresso.
In the first place, the Government acknowledges that the category transmitted is erroneous, since “neither the Attorney General of the Republic José Eduardo Guerra nor any other candidate holds the category of Deputy Attorney General.”
However, Francisca van Dunem’s office minimizes this point, saying that this indication as a supposed deputy attorney “is not mentioned in the document as a factor of preference or differentiation, but as a simple element of identification or treatment and, therefore, not it constituted a criterion of preference nor did it interfere, as a differentiating parameter, in the decision of the Council of the EU “.
In addition, the note also highlights that José Eduardo Guerra is “the highest ranking candidate in the category of prosecutor, in position 21, with candidate Ana Carla Mendes de Almeida in position 221.”
Regarding the reference to the participation of the prosecutor in the UGT process, the Ministry of Justice justifies the delay with the fact that José Guerra assured “the direction of the investigation of the case related to the Autonomous Board of Estradas, a process also of exceptional complexity “, so” it was this circumstance that misled the services in preparing the document. “
“The note from the Directorate General for Justice Policy, with these inaccuracies, was reproduced in a communication sent by the Permanent Representation of Portugal in the European Union to the General Secretariat of the Council,” the note states.
Even so, none of the errors presented, says the statement, “was decisive for the decision taken by the Government and the Council.”
The Ministry of Justice promises in the note that “it will ensure that the Representation of Portugal before the European Union – Reper provides the Council with additional information, rectifying the lapses detected” and reaffirms that “the Government has acted, throughout this process, with total kindness faith and with respect to the powers of the competent national bodies for the management of the judiciary.
After this case, the CDS-PP today asked Francisca van Dunem for explanations and the PSD went further, demanding an urgent hearing in the Parliament of the Minister of Justice. Already at the European level, the centrist deputy Nuno Melo questioned the European Commission and the Council of the EU about the process of appointing the European Public Prosecutor’s Office.
The European Public Prosecutor’s Office is an independent body of the EU, responsible for investigating, prosecuting and filing charges and supporting them in the investigation and prosecution of criminals who harm the financial interests of the Union (e.g. fraud, corruption, fraud). Cross-border VAT of more than 10 million euros).
