Public Prosecutor ends 'Blue Bag' case without appealing Benfica and Vieira's acquittal
The Public Prosecutor's office allowed the deadline to appeal the acquittal of Benfica and Luís Filipe Vieira in the 'Blue Bag' case to expire, definitively closing the case.
Public Prosecutor does not appeal acquittal in 'Blue Bag' case
The Public Prosecutor's office (PO) decided not to appeal the acquittal of Benfica and former president Luís Filipe Vieira in the 'Blue Bag' case, according to reports by Correio da Manhã citing a source connected to the case. The legal deadline to lodge an appeal expired without the PO taking action, putting a definitive end to the case.
"The deadline for appeal has expired and the PO did not appeal the ruling that acquitted Benfica SAD, Benfica Estádio, Luís Filipe Vieira, Domingos Soares Oliveira and Miguel Moreira in the 'Blue Bag' case," declared the same source.
Full acquittal in April
On 23 April, the Central Criminal Court of Lisbon had acquitted all defendants in the case: Benfica SAD, Benfica Estádio, Luís Filipe Vieira — who chaired the club between 31 October 2003 and 15 July 2021 —, the former CEO of SAD Domingos Soares de Oliveira, ex-financial director Miguel Moreira, the owner of Questãoflexível José Bernardes, as well as José Raposo and Paulo Silva.
The prosecution had argued that between 2015 and 2018, the defendants used fictitious computer consultancy contracts to withdraw over 1.8 million euros from Benfica, money that would largely have returned to the club in cash.
Court cited technical doubts and temporal distance
In reading the ruling, the president of the judicial panel justified the acquittal with the impossibility of accurately reconstructing the facts after a decade. "Only with forensic technical expertise could we know who did what, who accessed the system and what computer problems were created. And now it was impossible, at this stage of the trial, to do that, after 10 years," he stated.
The court identified, in particular, uncertainty regarding the role of businessman José Bernardes and the nature of the contracts entered into between Questãoflexível and Benfica Estádio. "The issue concerns, solely and exclusively, the capacity in which defendant José Bernardes acted to carry out this work for Benfica. That is the major doubt," stressed the presiding judge, adding that there were "arguments to sustain that José Bernardes may have worked at Questãoflexível to carry out work for Benfica, but there are also arguments against it".
After analysing all the evidence presented at trial, the panel concluded that it was not possible, "at this distance, comparing versions of documents, with the vagueness they contain", to reach a conclusion free of doubt.
Rui Costa speaks of damage to the club's image
Upon leaving court in April, current Benfica president Rui Costa expressed satisfaction with the acquittal and acknowledged the impact of the prolonged legal proceedings on the club's reputation. "In many areas, Benfica was harmed. It is evident that when a club of Benfica's standing is in a process of this magnitude, it damages its image and removes the pride or sows doubt among Benfica supporters," he told journalists.
Costa added: "Today we should be happy about this, because once again Benfica was cleared and [the case] did harm it, indeed it did greatly harm it over these 10 years."
With the Public Prosecutor's office's decision not to contest the ruling, the 'Blue Bag' case is closed without any convictions.
Source: Correio da Manhã