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The constitutionalist Jorge Bacelar Gouveia was searched in his office at the Universidade NOVA de Lisboa about two weeks ago, on suspicion of favoring doctoral students in exchange for compensation. The University became an assistant in the ongoing criminal case and opened a disciplinary case, which will not be the first. In addition, he reported that, after a “unanimous initiative” of the members of the Scientific Council of the Faculty of Law, Barcelar Gouveia resigned as president on December 3.
The Observer questioned the Attorney General’s Office about whether the constitutionalist was also constituted as a defendant, but has not yet received a response. Also contacted by the Observer, Paulo Sá e Cunha, Barcelar Gouveia’s lawyer, declined to comment on the case or confirm the constitution of the accused.
It is suspected that the former PSD deputy facilitated the granting of doctorates to students from some Portuguese-speaking African countries (PALOP), such as Angola and Mozambique, in exchange for counterparts. The suspicions arose from a conversation he had with the former PSD deputy, Sérgio Azevedo, who was heard in the Tutti-Frutti process and who was his student at NOVA University. In this case, a certificate will have been extracted that led to a new process.
Contacted by the Observer, the board of directors of the NOVA Law School, University Law School, confirmed the records made in the office that the professor has at the University. And he even says that, in the last two years, he pointed out “some situations that raised doubts about the behavior of Professor Jorge Bacelar Gouveia”, the reply sent by email reads.
On two occasions, the directive advances, the University has even “advanced with disciplinary participation for violation of the duties of information, zeal, loyalty and correction.” And now, in this case, it has been presented with a new participation. However, he warns, “the possibility that Professor Jorge Bacelar Gouveia never practiced suspicious criminal acts was never considered.”
“The NOVA Law School sees, therefore, with surprise – and consternation – the accusations that Professor Jorge Bacelar Gouveia is targeted,” he says.
Constitutionalist Bacelar Gouveia investigated for corruption
NOVA also affirms that “following a unanimous initiative of the members that make up the Scientific Council, the Professor Jorge Bacelar Gouveia resigned on December 3 as president of the Scientific Council of the Faculty, which he has held since 2014 ″.
The news that it was being investigated came for the first time in October, days before the Superior Council of the Judiciary met to choose to approve the names of the candidates for advisers to the Supreme Court of Justice. The professor of law was the only candidate who graduated as a merit jurist in the competition for access to the Supreme Court, thus remaining in first place. If someone leaves the Supreme in this category, they will be the next to enter.
Just over a year earlier, the constitutionalist had stirred the waters at the NOVA University of Lisbon by signing a 21-page open letter in which he spoke of the “lack of democracy” in the process of transferring the Law School of Campolide to Carcavelos, where the Faculdade Economia already works, due to the impact it would have on employees. “Throwing these people, after 22 years, to the periphery, with the obvious difficulty of transportation, and for some that means doubling the transportation time on the way back and forth, is unimaginable,” he criticized. “As an immediate result … the teachers and staff will only work during the day, and these courses will be closed due to lack of teachers and support staff.”
And in October of this year, Bacelar Gouveia asked the General Council of the University for clarification regarding the name change to NOVA School of Law. When he received no response, he posted his request for information and his outrage online.
Even so, the management of the University assures that Bacelar Gouveia is “a constitutionalist of great renown in Portuguese society and in the Portuguese-speaking world in general”, who chairs the Supervisory Council of the Illustrious Bar Association, “the body that it is in charge of supervising and controlling the financial management of this entity ”, and which came to preside over the Supervisory Council of State Information Services. “They are positions that presuppose the maximum suitability of those who occupy them,” the reply reads.
The investigation of the Tutti-Frutti case began in 2017, in an attempt to dismantle a network of alleged corruption and influence peddling crimes that allegedly involved PS and PSD personalities, but three years later, there was still no development.
How PSD leaders are investigated in Operation Tutti Frutti
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