Sixteen accused in Porto City Council corruption case refuse to give statements
The 16 accused of urban corruption in Porto remained silent at the first trial hearing. The case is linked to Operation Babel.
Silence at first hearing in Porto urban corruption case
The 16 accused — 11 individuals and five companies — charged with accelerating construction processes in exchange for money delivered by businesspeople and architects refused to give statements at the first trial session, held on Wednesday at São João Novo Court in Porto, according to Observador.
Among the accused are three urban planning technicians from Porto Municipal Council. At the end of the hearing, they asked the court for permission not to attend subsequent sessions on professional grounds, a request that the panel of judges accepted.
The accused face charges of active and passive corruption. The municipal officials also face accusations of abuse of power and illegitimate access.
According to the prosecution's indictment from the Public Ministry (MP), the Porto Municipal Council officials "in exchange for receiving money or other patrimonial advantages (employment for a family member), complying with the interests of the accused individuals and companies represented by them, in 12 urban planning procedures, granted them information and preferential treatment."
The municipal technicians also allegedly "accompanied, knew of, controlled, influenced, determined and accelerated the performance of administrative acts in such licensing procedures, with express violation of the rules and public duties to which they were subject", according to the MP.
The Public Ministry found that the "incongruent assets" of 12 of the 16 accused amount to €12.3 million, a sum which it requested be declared forfeited to the State. To guarantee such recovery, preventive seizures were ordered.
The case is connected to Operation Babel, which investigated the rigging of norms and the processing of urban licensing procedures in Vila Nova de Gaia. In that context, the former deputy mayor of Gaia City Council, Patrocínio Azevedo, was sentenced to eight and a half years in prison for corruption, a sentence equally applied to property developer Paulo Malafaia, who is also an accused in the present case.
Four of the 16 accused requested the opening of an investigation phase, a facultative stage in which a criminal investigating judge decides whether the case proceeds to trial and on what terms. The Criminal Investigation Court (TIC) of Porto nevertheless upheld all the accused in the exact terms of the MP's indictment.
Source: Observador