Detained defendants are not expected to be heard today

The judicial proceedings in the ‘AB INITIO’ case have not yet progressed to the first judicial interrogation of the eight detained defendants.

According to lawyer João Nabais, legal representative of the Mayor of Calheta, Carlos Teles, none of those involved should be heard today, as the reading of the Public Prosecutor’s Indictment Order by Judge Susana Mão de Ferro is still ongoing, a phase that is expected to be long given the length of the process.

After reading the Indictment Order, the defense of the eight defendants, composed of eight different lawyers, must request to consult the documentation in order to prepare the argument, a process that could take hours and even days, before proceeding with the first judicial interrogation. 

João Nabais considers it difficult for the question and answer phase to be concluded before Monday, since there should be no proceedings during the weekend.

The lawyer was speaking as he left the Palace of Justice, after an intense morning of proceedings, which ended at 12:35 pm and are due to resume at 2 pm today. The detained defendants were taken to the Funchal Prison in Cancela, where they will have lunch.

As part of the ‘AB INITIO’ operation (in Portuguese ‘from the beginning’), the president of the Calheta Municipal Council, Carlos Teles, the former regional secretary for Agriculture, Humberto Vasconcelos, the former regional director for Agriculture, Paulo Santos, the president of IASaúde, Bruno Freitas, the businessmen Humberto Drumond and Miguel Nóbrega, and two employees of the Regional Secretariat for Agriculture, Daniela Rodrigues and Cecília Aguiar, were arrested as defendants.

The suspects are suspected of having committed the crimes of economic participation in business, receiving or offering undue advantages, malfeasance and prohibited financing of political parties. According to the Lisbon District Attorney’s Office, the investigation carried out by the National Anti-Corruption Unit and the Madeira Criminal Investigation Department is looking into “contracts awarded by regional public entities, through their representatives, political office holders and employees, to companies controlled by a single individual, as well as to other companies managed by people with whom the individual has friendly relations, in violation of the rules of public tenders”.

At least 25 competitive procedures carried out between 2020 and 2024 are under investigation, for a total amount, excluding VAT, exceeding one million euros.

From Diário Notícias