PJ seized luxury televisions, sofas and gymnasium of drug trafficker with signature of Luís Neves
The Judicial Police claimed for operational use property seized from Rúben "Xuxas" Oliveira, including top-of-the-range televisions and gymnasium equipment. The declaration was signed by Luís Neves, then national director.
Televisions worth 17,000 euros and gilded sofas declared of "operational utility" by the PJ
The Judicial Police seized and claimed for its own use eight televisions, fifteen gymnasium items, two chairs and three sofas belonging to a suspect of drug trafficking, invoking "operational utility" as justification. The information was reported by CNN Portugal.
The property was seized from Rúben Oliveira, known as Xuxas, detained in 2022 in a major operation that dismantled, according to the PJ, a group led by Portugal's largest drug trafficker. The same court case in which the car driven by the current Minister of Internal Administration, Luís Neves, appeared — a vehicle provided by the PJ, which had already been using it when serving as national director of the force.
The declaration of operational utility of the televisions, gymnasium equipment, chairs and sofas is also dated 2022 and was signed by Luís Neves himself. In the document, the then director writes that he is doing so "in order for them to be used provisionally by the PJ, by virtue of presenting manifest interest for the execution of the various missions, within the scope of criminal investigation and in the exercise of the legal competencies of this Police force".
According to CNN Portugal's findings, three of the eight televisions are top-of-the-range models with prices that can reach 17,000 euros per unit. The gymnasium equipment is described as abundant and potentially of high value. As for the furniture, the list — with three pages — is sparse in details, merely referring to one of the sofas being white in colour with gilded detailing on the arms and two white cushions as well.
The editorial office posed two questions to the current PJ leadership: what the concrete operational utility of these goods is and where they are currently located. The response, in writing, did not answer either of the questions: "We can inform that for other moveable goods in relation to which operational utility has been declared, these remain under the guard and in the possession of this Police force, and may be used until a court decision is issued regarding their final destination."
Experts question legal basis
Bastos Leitão, former director of the Criminal Investigation Department of the PSP, stated that he has no recollection of any case in which a police force has claimed property of this nature for operational use. "It becomes difficult to establish, in legal terms, the seizure for operational use of this type of goods," he told TVI's Exclusive.
Leitão was more direct: "What am I going to say afterwards? That a sofa serves for operational use, in what way? It's difficult to explain something like this. For the defendants to feel comfortable being questioned, it doesn't make sense, does it? It's clear that we can always suppose that everything in police forces is operational. No, it isn't."
Fernanda Pinheiro, former president of the Bar Association, followed the same reasoning: "What is the utility for the investigation of a sofa or dumbbells for a gymnasium, even if it is the Judicial Police's?"
Pinheiro went even further, raising a legal problem. When a good is declared for an end that does not correspond to reality, "false statements are being made, aren't they? We are saying something that does not correspond to the truth," she emphasised.
The former Bar Association president added a practical consequence: when seized goods are not claimed by police forces, they must be sold by the State, with the revenue channelled to, amongst other purposes, support for crime victims. By claiming them in this way, in practice, one would be "diverting funds" to another area.
Xuxas's defence puzzled by the list
The declaration of operational utility also raised doubts in Rúben Oliveira's defence. When he was detained, Xuxas appeared in the media as someone living a life of luxury, owner of numerous top-of-the-range vehicles. For the defence, the nature of the goods claimed by the PJ — sofas, televisions and gymnasium equipment — does not fit within the concept of operational utility provided for in law.
Source: Google News PT — Crime (pt)