Judge Carlos Alexandre considered that Azeredo Lopes had an essential role “in all the gear” of the staged recovery of the stolen weapons in Tancos, that he knew about the parallel investigation by the Military Judicial Police and that he did not want to denounce it.
“The participation of Azeredo Lopes was essential in all the gear. It was the endorsement of Azeredo Lopes, who could have denounced and prevented everything, which conveyed confidence to all the other defendants who, also in his name, acted”, reads pronunciation order, to which the Lusa agency had access, where it is said that the indicative evidence of the process is “impactful”.
The investigating judge decided to bring to trial the 23 defendants in the case on the theft and recovery of Tancos’ weapons, in the exact terms of the indictment, with former Defense Minister Azeredo Lopes pronounced for denial of justice and malfeasance, personal favorization practiced by abuse of power and denial of justice.
The judge said he had no doubts about the participation of the then minister in staging the weapons recovery and considers that he violated ethical duties.
Carlos Alexandre considers that the then governor did not exercise, “because he did not want” his hierarchical powers over the then director of the Military Judicial Police Luís Vieira [também arguido] and that he ordered a “parallel and clandestine investigation” into the theft of arms, disrespecting the decision of the then Attorney General, Joana Marques Vidal.
The disciplinary power over the PJM was the responsibility of Azeredo Lopes, notes the judge, adding that the former holder of the Defense portfolio “provided political and beneficial coverage to the PJM’s performance”.
The judge subscribes to the prosecution of the Public Ministry (MP) when it is said that the “political coverage and the agreement of Azeredo Lopes” were within the scope of an extra-procedural action that the PJM developed, and that it had “the support and agreement of the minister in a parallel and clandestine investigation that implied the conclusion of an impunity agreement with the assailants so that the weapons could be returned “.
“PJM developed a parallel, clandestine investigative activity, on the fringes of the criminal process, hiding the action from the MP. Luís Vieira gave instructions for this investigation to remain in the sphere of PJM and that the MP should not be made aware. And of all this Azeredo Lopes was aware, having listened to Luís Vieira’s displeasure and his outpourings for the withdrawal of investigative competence to the Military Judicial Police and received documents from Luís Vieira with that displeasure “, reads in the extensive document of more than 2,460 pages.
The judge was convinced that “there was no other piece, on this Tancos board, better placed than Azeredo Lopes to denounce to the MP that Luís Vieira was overflowing his competences and that his conduct was confronting and disrespecting a PGR decision. “, stressing that between them” there was a relationship of trust “and that the former minister was” a sort of confidant, a wailing wall “for the colonel.
The delivery of the memo by Luís Vieira to Azeredo Lopes [em 04 de agosto de 2017] according to the order of pronunciation, the minister supported the decision of the director of the PJM so that “in whatever way” the stolen material was recovered, and the Military PJ tried to “discredit the PJ” by leaking information.
“PJM and GNR carried out an illegal and parallel investigation with total ignorance of the MP and the PJ. Luís Vieira disrespected and affronted the Attorney General and the PJM launched a parallel and clandestine investigation”, and without any fundamentally legal, he says.
“The PGR never believed that a Criminal Police Agency disrespected and ordered, supported by other PJM investigators and led by Luís Vieira to carry out an investigation on his own without any legal basis and that within the scope of the initiative there was an agreement with criminals that passed by giving them a kind of amnesty for the crimes they had committed “, reads in the dispatch.
The magistrate argues that “it is unreasonable” for the director of PJM “to issue false official public statements with reference to facts that do not correspond to reality to obtain for the institution that directs the success of feats that were nothing more than a real theatricality”.
He also claims that “it is not reasonable” that Azeredo Lopes had documents in his possession “that he knew were subject to the secrecy of justice and as such could not have access to them”, remembering that the former minister is a professor of law.
“It is also unreasonable for a minister to maintain contacts with the director of the PJM to address inquiries in the field of justice and to have knowledge of a parallel and disrespectful investigation of the decision of the MP and the PGR, who is aware of the reactions of the director of the PJM with the PGR due to disagreements and who is aware of the non-conformity between the official statement made public “, he observes.
The magistrate endorses the accusation by the PJ and the Public Ministry that the plan to recover Tancos’ material “was also a plan assumed by the minister”.
Carlos Alexandre also considers it “bizarre” that the minister says that his chief of staff did not inform him of the document that reported the staging of the “finding” of weapons by PJM and GNR, the so-called memorandum.
“It is bizarre to say that the chief of staff did not transmit the document that narrates a muscambilla that will later lead to his resignation and nevertheless never denounce General Martins Pereira” or say that he “had been negligent in not reporting a matter with that gravity “, as was the stealing of war armaments from national stores.
“To be bizarre is to make yourself poor and irresponsible and to shield yourself from institutional trust or the absence of mention of Tancos to whiten that which was his performance and which consisted of honoring elements of the PJM and NIC / GNR of Loulé for deeds that Azeredo Lopes knew they were not true “, adds the magistrate for whom the conduct of the ex-ruler in this case was extremely serious.
Nine of the defendants are accused of planning and executing the theft of military material from national stores and the remaining 14, including the former Minister of Defense and the two elements of the PJM, of carrying out an illegal and parallel investigation to that of the PJ and of having staged arms recovery.
Nor will there be crimes that range from terrorism, criminal association, denial of justice and malfeasance to falsification of documents, influence peddling, abuse of power, reception and possession of a prohibited weapon.
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