A BOLA – Email Case: Júlio Magalhães Says He Would Be Fired (Country)

Interviewed yesterday, in Lisbon, in the context of the process of Benfica emails released on the Porto Canal, Júlio Magalhães, former director of the television station, denied any responsibility in the case, assuring that the responsibility lay with FC Porto to reveal the email content.

“That was FC Porto’s responsibility and it didn’t escape me. I handled the other 90 percent of the channel network. They had their own autonomy and I had no interference», the now CNN Portugal journalist replied to the judge, who was asked by the magistrate if he had the autonomy to do something, such as suspend the program, in which Francisco J. Marques revealed emails from the red emblem. And I got straight to the point. “I couldn’t do anything. It had no autonomy. I couldn’t censor anything and I didn’t even consider it, because it never crossed my mind that it wasn’t legally calcified,” added Júlio Magalhães.

The former director of Porto Canal was questioned by the Public Prosecutor’s Office on what would have happened to him if he had decided to interfere, interrupting the weekly disclosures of the contents of the aforementioned emails. Júlio Magalhães responded peremptorily that he would either be sacked or resign, reinforcing the notion that he has no responsibility for FC Porto content broadcast on the Porto Canal.

Júlio Magalhães has never considered the diffusion of the emails as an attack on Benfica, but on those who have committed dubious practices: «It had a public interest, obviously. He aimed at alleged bad practices, unethical practices, by people linked to the sporting phenomenon and who could alter the sporting truth. It wasn’t aimed at Benfica, but at some people,” he said, adding: “I saw the public importance in what was disclosed. The contents were of public interest. If there are other problems, if the emails have been truncated, I didn’t know. I haven’t had access to them to figure out if this happened or not. He had no say in the content of the program, nor in what was broadcast. I only found out later. I have never interfered in the contents of FC Porto. It was something with a national dimension. I didn’t think it was penalizing for Benfica, but for the people who committed the crimes.”