Complaint against PJ director submitted to PGR in Football Leaks case
The PGR confirmed receipt of a complaint against Carlos Cabreiro, director of the PJ, for alleged illegal wiretapping in the Football Leaks case. The case was referred to the DIAP in Lisbon.
Complaint to PGR points to illegal wiretapping in Football Leaks case
The Office of the Attorney General of the Republic (PGR) received a complaint against the national director of the Judicial Police (PJ), Carlos Cabreiro, as confirmed this Thursday to news agency Lusa. Google News PT — Crime (pt) reports that the case was referred to the Department of Investigation and Criminal Action (DIAP) in Lisbon.
The complaint, reported by the NOW channel and the newspaper Expresso, is related to the Football Leaks case and alleges that wiretaps were carried out without judicial authorisation. The complaint contradicts statements made by Cabreiro himself in court during the trial in 2023, when he stated that no wiretaps had been carried out in the field.
The October 2015 meeting
According to the complaint, at issue are recordings made by the PJ and authorised by Carlos Cabreiro in 2015, on the day when Aníbal Pinto — defendant and convicted in the Football Leaks case, who at that time represented Rui Pinto — met with Nélio Lucas, owner of Doyen, and lawyer Pedro Henriques, in a service area in Oeiras.
That meeting proved decisive for the investigation: it allowed the PJ to reach the identity of Rui Pinto, who was sentenced in September 2023 to four years in prison, with the sentence suspended, for a crime of attempted extortion, three crimes of aggravated violation of correspondence and five crimes of unauthorised access.
Internal documents contradict court version
It was Aníbal Pinto himself who submitted the complaint to the PGR, following the discovery of internal PJ documents — namely the Mission Order and the External Activity Report (RDE) — which confirm that wiretaps were carried out. The complaint is directed against Carlos Cabreiro, inspectors José Amador, Hugo Monteiro and Rogério Bravo, responsible for the investigation, and "all other employees" of the PJ who participated in the recordings.
The lawyer argues that the documentation found is "incompatible with the version presented to the court concerning the non-existence of audio recording of a meeting that took place in October 2015". According to the RDE cited in the complaint, the wiretap — which the Public Prosecution Service had prohibited and which the PJ inspectors reiterated in court did not exist — was allegedly extracted to a CD handed to inspector José Amador.
Pinto considers there to be "an objective, serious and materially relevant incompatibility between the PJ's operational documentation and the information and testimony through which the existence of the recording was denied before the court".
Crimes invoked and request for inquiry
The lawyer requests from the PGR the "opening of the competent criminal investigation", stating that it is necessary to determine whether illegal evidence was produced during the investigation, validated in court based on false testimony, including that of Carlos Cabreiro, who at the time held coordination functions at the PJ.
The complaint acknowledges that crimes of denial of justice and misconduct in office, false testimony, falsification or counterfeiting of documents, damage or abstraction of documents and technical notation, and abuse of power may be at issue.
Cabreiro maintains statements; minister reaffirms confidence
Carlos Cabreiro, confronted with the accusations, maintained all positions taken in court. The PJ's communications office responded to Lusa that the national director "maintains all statements made in court, having not made any statement that does not correspond to the truth".
Justice Minister Rita Alarcão Júdice reiterated Thursday her confidence in the PJ director. The minister's office stated that she "has no comments to make, merely reiterating that she maintains confidence in the National Director of the Judicial Police", thus ruling out any questioning of Cabreiro's continuation in office.
Context of the Football Leaks case
The Football Leaks case, tried in 2023, involved cases of unauthorised access and violation of correspondence of entities such as Sporting, Doyen, the law firm PLMJ, the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) and the PGR itself.
Source: Google News PT — Crime (pt)