It was with rhythm that, at the beginning of the afternoon, the Attorney of the Republic Marta Viegas began the investigation to the inspector of the Judicial Police (PJ) Aida Freitas. Everything suggested that his statements would not be very different from those of Inspector Hugo Freitas, heard hours earlier. The two had been the only inspectors to be present secretly at the meeting at a service station on the A5 between representatives of Doyen and Aníbal Pinto, then Rui Pinto’s lawyer and, at the outset, the versions of both would be similar. The meeting, supposedly scheduled to negotiate how many millions Doyen would be paying in exchange for not disclosing documents about the company that the alleged hacker would have in his possession, would come to be one of the most important and most solid evidence to accuse Aníbal Pinto and Rui Pinto of the crime of attempted extortion. At least, until this Tuesday.
The pace of Attorney Marta Viegas quickly slowed down when she realized that part of what the inspector was saying was quite different from what her colleague Hugo Freitas had just said. However, the stunned silence lasted only a few seconds. When Aida Freitas admitted that did not hear “nothing” of what happened at the meeting is that signed the report on it without reading it and even confessed that if he had done it “at the time, he hadn’t signed”, the panel of judges was unable to hide their indignation – especially since the inspector seemed to tell them that too lightly.
I didn’t hear anything what they talked about [no encontro]. I signed the RDE (External Due Diligence Report), but I I didn’t read what I signed. I have to be very honest, very sincere. It was not enough distance [para ouvir]”, He confessed.
Visibly shocked, the judges raised their tone of voice to try to see if the inspector perceived the “gravity of this” and if they were aware that they themselves do “Judgments based on PJ evidence, believing that what they write corresponds to the truth ”. “Since the director of the Judiciary Police comes here, it will be something we will call your attention to“, Adjunct assistant judge Ana Paula Conceição, referring to Luís Neves, listed as a witness for the defense of Rui Pinto.
Aida Freitas’ statements, in what is the 31st session of the Football Leaks trial, led the Attorney General to request that she be investigated for suspicions of crime of false document and false statements. After criticizing the inspector’s performance, the court decided to extract a certificate so that an isolated case can be opened. It is the second time, in the course of the trial that Rui Pinto and Aníbal Pinto have been placed on the dock, that a certificate is extracted to investigate possible criminal practices by the PJ. At the December 10 session, the court had already decided to extract a certificate to investigate the alleged collaboration of PJ chief inspector Rogério Bravo with Doyen. These alleged links had already been investigated before, but the case was closed.
Court extracts certificate to investigate PJ inspector for corruption in the Football Leaks case. Case had been filed
Throughout the testimony, Aida Freitas also explained that she has an idea that it was inspector José Amador who wrote the RDE. The problem is that this inspector was not inside the establishment where the meeting took place – I was abroad, in a place where, it would not be possible to hear what was said there.
This is even more serious. It was prepared by a person who was not at the meeting. Do you realize the gravity of this? ”Asked the president of the collective, Judge Margarida Alves, already exalted and raising her voice.
The inspector even admitted that signing documents without reading them is customary: “Many of us sign things without reading”. “Are you telling me that this was not an isolated case? He is speaking with a lightness that is confusing me. He even admitted that he was coming to report an irregularity, but he knows that he usually does. If you are in the Anti-Corruption Unit, you should read better“, Affirmed the assistant judge.
Aníbal Pinto (right) is accused of mediating Rui Pinto’s extortion attempt on Doyen
In reaction to these criticisms, the inspector reaffirmed, leaving no room for doubt: “We often sign pieces without reading”. Questioned by the defense of Rui Pinto, she added that what was written in the RDE “is not that it was not true”. “I didn’t hear. I wrongly signed without reading. We work on the vote of confidence: my colleague is an excellent professional, the PJ is very well regarded ”, he said, ending up leaving the room afterwards, no longer listening to the part where the court extracted a certificate so that suspicions of false document and false crimes can be investigated statements.
The first contradiction emerged as soon as Inspector Aida Freitas started talking about the meeting on October 21, 2015. In the morning, inspector Hugo Monteiro had said that the objective of monitoring the meeting “was not the conversation”, but “ guarantee the security of space ”and of people, including employees, and be attentive to“ any movement ”. And that both had a higher order to detain Aníbal Pinto, in two scenarios: if he delivered a hard drive or similar object or if the chief inspector responsible for the operation of that order to proceed – none has been verified.
Chief Inspector Rogério Bravo requested my presence at the service station where a flagrant offense could happen“, Explained the inspector.
However, in the afternoon, inspector Aida Freitas assured that the goal was not to stop anyone, but “watching a meeting between certain people” and “Listen to the conversation” – who, as I said, could not hear because it was far away. According to inspector Hugo Monteiro, neither he nor Inspector Aida Freitas had been put into context about what the meeting was: briefing at the gas station, we were told at a distance who Pedro Henriques and Nélio Lucas would be. The other people who were due to arrive did not know. They didn’t show me any image ”.
The letter to Russia, the application to the PGR and a journalist. The 3 suspicions about the PJ’s relationship with Doyen
After briefing with chief inspector Rogério Bravo and inspector José Amador, at the gas pump, the two inspectors entered, while Nélio Lucas and Pedro Henriques were sitting at a table in the restaurant in the service area. It was empty: besides them, only the employees were in the establishment. “We chose a location to control space, ensure stakeholder safety and be close enough to, in the event that we have to intervene and move into detention, that that movement was fast“, Explained the inspector.
At the request of the deputy judge, Hugo Monteiro even made a drawing to show where he was sitting and how the participants were arranged at the table. He estimates that they would be less than three meters from the table where the two Doyen representatives were, to which Aníbal Pinto would shortly join. Inspector Aida Freitas had a different perception: in court, he said that the distance between tables was much greater than that which Hugo Monteiro exemplified hours before. Alerted by the judge, she said only: “As you can see, I wear glasses”.
Contrary to what Aida Freitas said, inspector Hugo Monteiro repeatedly reiterated that his “Interest was not the conversation”, but be aware of “any movement”. And, therefore, “only when the establishment was quiet” were both “attentive to the conversation”. Still, these moments were enough for them to realize that they were facing a “business meeting”.
It was a business meeting. The outlines of a business were discussed in which Aníbal Pinto presented himself as an intermediary for a business of thousands: half a million to one million ”, he said.
Aníbal Pinto, in a “normal” tone of voice, is said to have “represented a young person, capable of to hack computer systems and responsible for Football Leaks and access to Sporting“, According to the inspector heard. However, it guarantees: “I didn’t hear the name Rui Pinto”.
The secret meeting between Rui Pinto’s former lawyer and Doyen – with the PJ at the next table
Hugo Freitas, who has worked at the National Unit to Combat Cybercrime and Technological Crime for six years, further explained that there was “an issue of illegality addressed by Nélio Lucas and Pedro Henriques in terms of whether it was a crime what was being practiced” .
They emerged several times in the conversation that were being victimized by crimes. Aníbal Pinto referred to it as a business, ”said the witness.
The witness added that Aníbal Pinto was the first person to talk about money and that, he realized, that the lawyer would have a kind of “ascendant” about the person he was representing – Rui Pinto, as he would later discover. “There are expressions that have been used, namely that was able to control – now we know who it is – your customer. Expressions, from my perception, that it seemed that he had an ascendant, that would guide the business ”, he added.
The inspector estimates that the meeting lasted “about an hour”. “The three people left the establishment very normal and I stayed a few more minutes,” he said, adding that “The proximity to the table allows to hear the conversation”. “There was no arrest: we did not receive an order [para avançar para a detenção], nor was there any delivery. We communicated to the inspector José Amador, holder of the survey, who considered it pertinent and asked us to reproduce what we found ”, he explained. The meeting was not recorded, at least by the PJ and for what Hugo Monteiro guaranteed, and what is reported about it was precisely what the two inspectors described in an account of external diligence – a document that is now in the process.
Rui Pinto, the main defendant, is responsible for 90 crimes – all related to the fact that you have accessed the computer systems and mailboxes emails people linked to Sporting, Doyen, the PLMJ law firm, the Portuguese Football Federation, the Bar Association and the PGR. Among those targeted are Jorge Jesus, Bruno de Carvalho, who in the meantime gave up on the complaint, then DCIAP director Amadeu Guerra or lawyer José Miguel Júdice. Thus, 68 are of undue access, 14 of violation of correspondence, six of illegitimate access and also for computer sabotage to Sporting’s SAD and for attempted extortion to the Doyen investment fund.
Rui Pinto. The boy with the “spiky hair” who was already on the school computers before being the “John” of Football Leaks
Aníbal Pinto, his lawyer at the time of the alleged crimes, is responsible for the crime of attempted extortion because he will have served as an intermediary for Rui Pinto in the alleged extortion attempt on Doyen. And that is why they both sit side by side, in front of the panel of judges.
The alleged hacker has been in preventive detention since March 22, 2019 and was placed under house arrest on April 8 of this year, in a house provided by the PJ. Following a request made by the defendant’s defense, the judge Margarida Alves, president of the panel of judges – who is judging Rui Pinto and who has Judges Ana Paula Conceição and Pedro Lucas as assistant – decided to release him. The alleged hacker left PJ’s premises in early August and his current address is unknown.
