Pedro Calado, president of Funchal City Council, should only be heard tomorrow, Tuesday, in court, following the mega-operation that ‘took over’ Madeira last Wednesday, due to suspicions of corruption and favoritism to groups economic.
As his lawyer, Paulo Sá e Cunha, explained upon arrival at the Justice Campus, in Lisbon, the resigning Funchal mayor will be the last of the three detained within the scope of this investigation to be heard in the interrogation that is now beginning, after being postponed for the second time last Saturday, and which could last for several days.
Custódio Correia begins to be heard today, starting at 2 pm. Then Avelino Farinha will follow. However, the coercive measures will only be known after the three defendants have been questioned by a judge.
Paulo Sá e Cunha further stated that Pedro Calado’s resignation from the position of president of the CMF was not a strategic decision related to the process that is now involved.
According to CNN Portugal, the three detainees have already left the Judiciary Police facilities heading to the Justice Campus.
It should be remembered that at stake are suspicions of corruption, active and passive, economic participation in business, malfeasance, receiving or offering an undue advantage, abuse of power and influence peddling.
Following these suspicions, 130 home and non-home searches were carried out in several municipalities in Madeira, mainly Funchal, Câmara de Lobos, Machico and Ribeira Brava, in Greater Lisbon, in Braga, Porto, Paredes, Aguiar da Beira and also in Ponta Slender.
It should be noted that a record number of officers participated in this police operation, more specifically two Criminal Investigation judges, six magistrates from the Public Prosecutor’s Office and six members from the Technical Advisory Center of the Attorney General’s Office, as well as 270 criminal investigators and PJ experts. A setup that has already been criticized by different personalities, including Cunha Rodrigues and José Souto Moura, magistrates who led the Attorney General’s Office between 1984 and 2006.