In statements to journalists on the sidelines of the evidentiary hearing in the Benfica 'saco azul' case, at the Campus of Justice, lawyer Rui Patrício -- who represents João Conceição, REN administrator and former consultant to ex-minister Manuel Pinho in the EDP/CMEC case -- admitted to being "sorry that he had to file a request" with examining magistrate Nuno Dias Costa, urging a possible crime of disobedience by the prosecutors.

"My office colleagues and I filed a request because some news appeared, which I imagined to be reliable, that said that the emails were going to be used. And that cannot be. It cannot be in a State of Law, the Supreme Court has already said no and the examining magistrate has already said no. Now, apparently, more time is needed to reanalyse. I am glad to have contributed to a second consideration, I just think it was not necessary", he said.

For the lawyer, who in the meantime saw the magistrate refuse to order the Public Prosecution Service not to use the 3,277 emails seized from former EDP managers António Mexia and whose seizure was already annulled in October 2023 by the Supreme Court of Justice, there are now other issues to clarify, namely the validity of the evidence obtained from said emails, with Judge Nuno Dias Costa having already ordered their destruction in the process.

"If the digital evidence seized in the searches is all null -- and that is what the court decisions say --, now the second issue of the so-called 'remote effect' must be considered: to know whether or not the consequential evidence is tainted by this nullity. We still have some way to go and some reflection to do", stressed Rui Patrício.

Lawyer João Medeiros, attorney for former EDP managers António Mexia and João Manso Neto, defended that it is "absolutely regrettable" that there are requests "to draw attention to what is compliance with the law", to which the Public Prosecution Service is bound, but he aimed, above all, at the duration of this process.

"This investigation has been going on for 12 years. My clients' intention is, in fact, to see an end to this... Whether the end is the Public Prosecution Service acknowledging that it does not have the elements to point out and proceed with the filing of the case, or whether it is to indict without, of course, making use of illegal evidence. What we want is for this matter to be resolved and not to keep postponing it. The Public Prosecution Service has already requested an extension of the deadline to file the indictment 20 times. That is a lot", he summed up.

The EDP/CMEC case ended up leading in December 2022 to the indictment of former minister Manuel Pinho, his wife Alexandra Pinho, and former banker Ricardo Salgado for facts unrelated to the company and CMEC. The investigation was meanwhile separated and António Mexia and João Manso Neto are suspected of the crimes of corruption and economic participation in business, while João Conceição is suspected of passive corruption.

Leia Também: EDP/CMEC. Prosecutors request extension of deadline to file indictment (Portuguese version)