After all the hue and cry in the press, all the stories detailing alleged kickbacks from alleged rogues for alleged multimillion euro favours, former economy minister Manuel Pinho is smiling broadly this evening: he is no longer an arguido in the “caso EDP” – the Public Ministry investigation into suspicions of corruption in the awarding of lucrative subsidies to the electricity provider (click here).
SIC television news broke this story this afternoon, explaining Pinho was ‘saved’ by the fact that he was not officially informed of the charges against him when he was made an arguido last July suspected of the crimes of passive corruption, fiscal fraud and money-laundering.
The release from ‘official defendant status’ is thus entirely based on legal procedure.
Said Pinho’s lawyer Ricardo Sá Fernandes: “Dr Manuel Pinho argued the irregularity of his constitution as an ‘arguido’ due to the fact that the terms in which it was effected did not respect fundamental principles of the penal process”.
The blunder of PJ investigators is that they did not take note of “declarations nor did they communicate the concrete facts that were being levelled” against Pinho.
Thus the man who left politics to teach in a US university has been released from his bail conditions and is essentially free to get on with his life.
Bizarrely, the ‘arguido’ suspected of having corrupted Pinho (former BES banker Ricardo Salgado) remains an arguido in the case.
natasha.donn@algarveresident.com
