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According to the prosecution, “the distribution of profits / income obtained through this commercial company covered the activity carried out in the José Santos Martins law firm.” This because “The clientele” was “raised, often, through contacts and knowledge of Rui Rangel”. Some of the clients were aware of the “close relationship between Rui Rangel and José Santos Martins,” the indictment reads.
The prosecution understands that Fátima Galante had “perfect knowledge” of the “profits obtained” by her husband, “having adhered to the plan.” As proof of this, there are dozens of emails exchanged between the couple of judges and the lawyer in which they talk about the “allocation of amounts in bank accounts, the destination of these same amounts and Rui Rangel’s tax returns” , read if it is on expedition.
In one, from May 2012, Galante – which the MP defines as the “Income manager” – He asked the lawyer for 4,500 thousand euros, saying that he has not yet paid the “Rui card”, which falls on his account. According to the MP, the former judge “continuously sent emails and sent messages to José Santos Martins,” in which he demanded to receive money or that certain payments be made.
But, in the area of the “economic association” that they maintained, Galante also “lent money to José Santos Martins, values that should not be confused with Rui Rangel’s income ”. It is an “amount of compensation that the latter received for the theft of a vehicle”. According to the MP, they were amounts whose payment Galante “He has been demanding José Santos Martins for many years,” and it is not clear if he ever paid the debt.
For example, in an email from 2013, I reminded him: “I am not a bank and I deprived myself of what was mine to help you and now I am going through serious financial difficulties.” Finally, I left “a warning”: I told him I had “a lot of strength” and “a lot of power”. “One call is enough,” he said, adding: “PAY and don’t take too long because my patience is over“.
These are just some of the dozens and dozens of communications that the MP has accessed and is now using to accuse former judge Rui Rangel of 20 crimes, Fátima Galante of nine, and lawyer José Santos Martins for two crimes of corruption, one crime of abuse of power, four crimes of forgery, six crimes of tax fraud and one of money laundering. Santos Martins’ son will also be liable for six crimes of tax fraud and one of money laundering.
In the criminal process – as in the disciplinary process that would remove them from the judiciary – Fátima Garante and Rui Rangel always denied the prosecution’s thesis, attributing the transfers of José Santos Martins to old debts that the lawyer had to pay them.
