Under house arrest since Saturday morning, Ricardo Salgado could benefit, in attempts that will do to be subject to less severe coercive measures, the disagreements that have arisen between the judge Carlos Alexandre and the prosecutor in the case BES / GES.
The most notorious of these disagreements came on Friday, when the judge turned a deaf ear to claim the prosecutors in charge of the case, who wanted to keep the banker in freedom, albeit with a deposit of three million euros, and decreed his departure for home without electronic bracelet but police at the door. The decision was based on several assumptions: risk of flight and danger of disturbance of the investigation and the acquisition and preservation of evidence. To move alone to a measure such as house arrest, without the backing of the Public Prosecutor, who directs investigations at this stage, Carlos Alexandre is in a weaker position than in the José Sócrates process in which their disagreements with judges the Central Department of Investigation and Penal Action arose only when they would make the former prime minister of jail and send him home with an electronic bracelet. – As the own refused, preferring to remain in prison in Évora
Had the case of Ricardo Salgado happened three years ago and the banker would still be at liberty: the possibility of a criminal instruction judge decides aggravate coercive measures proposed by prosecutors results of a controversial amendment to the Code of 2013. Criminal Procedure “It is not clear on what basis is that the judge may be able to apply a different measure that is more severe than that sought by the prosecutor, as the judge may only know the facts which form the basis to request because its impartiality position does not allow the inquiry and the acquisition of other facts, failing which the judge himself become an inquisitive and investigative agent, “noted at the time the Bar Association.
In any case, the law only allows the court to exceed the prosecution when there is danger of flight, continued criminal activity or public nuisance. If, instead, it is concerned the danger of disturbance of the investigations by the defendant the judge can no longer apply a coercive measure which prosecutors disagree. And in the case of Ricardo Salgado, indicted for crimes of aggravated fraud, forgery of documents, computer forgery, money laundering, qualified tax fraud and corruption in the private sector, beyond the danger of escape – recognized by prosecutors – was only invoked by the judge the risk disturbance of the investigations. So if lawyers banker unable to convince the Court of Appeal of Lisbon, for which will appeal that his client never intended to escape – after all, one year ago that the suspicions about him in case BES / GES up swell without having tried to leave the country – Carlos Alexandre longer has legal grounds to keep you stuck at home. If you want to play on more than one board, the defense of the accused can still raise the constitutionality of this legal amendment which increases the powers of the criminal investigating magistrates.
It continues, however, to explain why Carlos Alexandre He preferred to apply policing to Ricardo Salgado, much more expensive solution than the electronic bracelet. A statement issued by the Judicial District of Lisbon addresses the matter without, however, to clarify. “Face the facts charged in the file, which is in camera proceeding, the investigating judge understood (…) that the danger of escape could only be allowed confining the accused to his residence and its public parks,” said the notice, adding that the bracelet “is not the only possible means of supervision” of house arrest. “The option for promoting accountability rests with the judge in assessing the circumstances of the case and the severity and risk of danger to eradicate,” said too.
The PSP refuses to say how many agents put watch the banker, claiming for it “a matter of principle operational nature” but as far as the PUBLIC found are now eight policemen from Cascais and posted to wall, in shifts of six hours, watch the entries of the property where the accused is arrested – or about ten percent of the workforce contingent of the two stations. Initially this service was only assigned to Cascais station. “If you have been kind of measure to be applied to all cases of house arrest had to be created a new PSP division only for these situations,” says the president of the Trade Union Association of Police Professionals, Paulo Rodrigues.
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