Pedro Moura, president of that parish council in the municipality of Ponta Delgada, on the island of São Miguel, in the Azores, has his sentence suspended on the condition that he pays, within one year, an amount exceeding 3,800 euros.

For the loss of office to which he was sentenced to take effect, all legal remedies must first be exhausted and Pedro Moura revealed, after reading the judgment, that he will appeal the decision made known today.

The court considered the accusation of the Public Prosecutor's Office (MP) to be proven within the scope of the investigation, which dates back to 2015, when Pedro Moura was already president of the Parish Council of São Roque, elected by the PS, and a deputy in the Azorean parliament.

At issue in this case is the alleged misappropriation of an amount exceeding 137 thousand euros from the Parish Council's accounts to the São Roque Naval Club, created and managed by Pedro Moura.

According to the MP, the Parish Council bought three plots of land to carry out urgent works in the parish and the assets were transferred to the Naval Club.

Of these plots, two were later returned to the Parish Council, but a third was sold by the Naval Club for 250 thousand euros to pay off part of the loan.

During the reading of the sentence, the judge stated that Pedro Moura was the one who managed "the destinies" of the Parish Council and "the other members signed" and "followed the orders" of the mayor, while "the Naval Club was a ghost association".

"There was never any protocol with the Parish Council for the decision to acquire these properties", said the magistrate, in reading the judgment, adding that Pedro Moura, as the holder of a public office, "illegally appropriated public funds".

The court considered it proven that Pedro Moura controlled "exclusively" the Parish Council and the Naval Club, which "was created to acquire the real estate".

It was also proven that "the water and electricity bills were paid by the Parish Council, but were in the name of the Naval Club.

According to the judge, "it was not a mistake, it was an illegitimate appropriation of amounts belonging to the public treasury".

In the court's view, Pedro Moura "acted with intent, acted freely, knowing that he was doing so "as president of the Parish Council, appropriating money from the Parish Council for the benefit of the Naval Club".

In the suspension of the sentence, the fact that Pedro Moura had no criminal record, as well as his family and social integration, was taken into account.

Regarding the amount exceeding 137 thousand euros, the judge said that "the Naval Club donated the two buildings to the Parish Council", so it "has already been compensated".

After reading the sentence, Pedro Moura told journalists that he was "dissatisfied" and that he will appeal the decision, reinforcing that public works were carried out and that "in the balance of accounts" the Parish Council benefited.

"We are going to appeal. We are not satisfied. We think that São Roque benefited and it was the only way we had to do work for the parish. It is there: a roundabout, a car park and a bathing area that is one of the busiest on the island", he said.

According to the mayor, "the court ends up considering that works were carried out" and "does not ask for the restitution of the initial amount that it had requested".

"We did not take any advantage", he stressed.

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