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Former President of Tourism of Porto and Northern Portugal (TPNP) Melchior Moreira was released on Wednesday after serving more than two years and two months of preventive detention, his lawyer, Amílcar Fernandes, revealed today.
The release is the result of a decision by the Porto Court of Appeals that reversed the order of a criminal investigation judge (JIC) in Porto to try the former president of TPNP separately.
In this way, Melchior Moreira joins the group of 29 defendants in the main Ether case, on the alleged addiction to public procurement procedures around the northern tourist entity, which is currently being investigated.
The period of pre-trial detention for the former head of northern tourism ended on February 24, but, to prevent his release on that date, a JIC determined, in an order of January 22, that Melchior Moreira would be tried independently.
In the order now rejected by the Porto Relationship, the JIC recognized that all periods of preventive detention had expired, despite the fact that it was a declared case of special complexity, and admitted that the separation of the process was an expedited procedure to avoid the release of the accused.
“I appealed this order and the Court of Appeals was appropriate for me,” said attorney Amílcar Fernandes, who underscored the fact that, even so, his client was not prevented from serving more than three months of preventive detention as allowed.
Melchior Moreira’s sentence in an autonomous process was even scheduled for April 18, and did not take place due to the suspensive effect of the appeal, now given as provided by the Porto Relationship.
Investigations in the main process, with the other 28 accused in Operation Ether, were also scheduled for April 22, after the JIC declared them urgent.
However, they ended up being postponed ‘sine-die’ (undated), after protests from the Bar Association that rejected the “urgent attribution of instruction (…) without any reason or justification” and in the midst of a pandemic crisis .
The Ether process, on the alleged addiction to public procurement procedures around the TPNP, led to a mega operation carried out by the Judicial Police in October 2018 and led the Public Ministry to accuse hundreds and half of crimes of 29 accused (21 people and eight groups), including Melchior Moreira.
The matter contained in the accusation that will be leaked in the course of the investigation refers to five lines of investigation, which involve, among others, the procedures for hiring personnel and the acquisition of goods, the use of the entity’s means for purposes personal and the support provided to football clubs, one as a counterpart of personal favors for the president of that state entity and the other as a means of personal self-promotion in the football environment.
The improper reception of emission rights and the reception of offers from economic operators are other matters of the process.
Other branches of Operation Ether are being investigated: one aimed at mayors and former mayors of 47 municipalities, in interactive tourist shops; another on the alleged use of funds to announce the concentration of Portugal in advertising of a different nature and possible crimes of malpractice.
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