Pedro Calado, Avelino Farinha and Custódio Correia subject to identity and residence agreement.
The criminal investigation judge ruled today that the evidence did not support the commission of any crimes.
Magistrate Jorge Bernardes de Melo ordered this Wednesday, February 14th, the release of the three defendants detained in connection with the case of alleged corruption in the Autonomous Region of Madeira. The Public Prosecutor’s Office had requested the most serious coercive measure – preventive detention -, alleging danger of escape and disruption of the investigation.
The defendants are subject to an identity and residence term, a condition that obliges them, among other things, to appear before the competent authority whenever the law requires it or be notified, not to change their residence or be absent from it for more than five days without communicate your new residence or place where you can be found.
The former mayor of Funchal, Pedro Calado, the leader of the AFA group, Avelino Farinha, and the CEO of Socicorreia, Custódio Correia, were arrested on 24 January following an investigation by the Public Prosecutor’s Office of the Central Department of Investigation and Criminal Action, which led to 130 searches across the country. The defendants were detained in the prison attached to the PJ facilities for three weeks with exclusive travel to the Central Criminal Investigation Court.
The prosecution believes in the existence of a scheme between the former vice-president of the Regional Government, Avelino Farinha and Custódio Correia with a view to awarding hundreds of public works, yielding millions of euros to private entities and allowing Pedro Calado to enjoy “a standard of living much higher than that expected of a public servant, whether in the role of vice-president of the Regional Government or as president of the CMF”.
Pedro Calado was charged with seven crimes, Avelino Farinha with four and Custódio Correia with three crimes of active and passive corruption. The criminal investigation judge ruled today that the evidence did not support the commission of any crimes.
The MP’s investigations focus on facts that occurred from 2015 onwards, likely to substantiate crimes of attack against the rule of law, malfeasance, undue receipt of advantage, passive corruption, active corruption, economic participation in business, abuse of powers and trafficking in influence.
In the context of this case, the now resigned president of the Regional Government of Madeira, Miguel Albuquerque, was also accused.