Américo Pereira, former mayor of Vinhais and husband of the new Secretary of State for Agriculture, Carla Alves Pereira, this Thursday clarified an investigation in which he is the target. He guarantees that the woman has “nothing to do” with the legal proceedings she is targeting, after which the couple’s bank accounts were arrested, according to Correio da Manhã.
“This controversy has sadly affected my wife. she has nothing to do with it” began confirming the former mayor to journalists.
It should be noted that Carla Alves is the wife of the former socialist mayor, Américo Pereira, accused by the prosecution, who ordered the detention of the former mayor’s assets, in a case worth more than 4.7 million euros and who three other defendants, a businessman and former president of the city council, a priest and a business association.
The former mayor, a lawyer by profession, said that only one joint account, in his and his wife’s name, has been seized “with a wretched sum”, and regarding the remaining assets, the now secretary of state has already “went to the process of seeking arrest warrants”.
According to him, the woman is “not financially legally liable” because she is not a defendant in the trial and the so-called part of the couple cannot be held, that is, the part of the property that belongs to her.
“I never thought that someone’s malice could get to the point where a former mayor’s wife is involved because he is being charged in a criminal trial. I don’t understand why she should be involved,” complained the former mayor de Vinhais. , a position he left in 2017.
“I am accused, as publicly, of having committed three crimes as mayor. The Public Prosecutor’s Office accused me in 2022 of making an agreement in 2006 with a local businessman, the rector of the seminary, in that it acquiring certain land was made in a way that they could be profited from. It’s a lie. It’s false,” he affirmed.
He said the accusation had been made and it had not even been received by the judge. “I’ll prove it’s not true.”
“What was arrested wasn’t the bank accounts, it was the bank account balances,” the former mayor clarified. “The only account that was arrested, which my wife has with me, was only one,” he said.
The discrepancy between the amounts declared and received is related to “an accounting error”, he justified. “There is no illegal entry.”
“My wife’s involvement is zero. It’s just because she’s my wife. This is a real shame,” Américo Pereira stressed, referring to the new Secretary of State for Agriculture.
“Anyone who is married to the man or woman who wants to hold office and one of them is accused must divorce. She has nothing to do with it at all.” marked.
“This is my business. I will defend myself in due coursethe accusation has been made, it was not received by the judge, I hope it will not even be received by the judge,” said Américo Pereira, adding that he will face himself “with all courage” and “candor” at the right time to defend “.
The indictment is dated 2022 and the deadline is running, according to Americo Pereira, in which the defendants can challenge it, requesting the opening of an investigation, a step he said he had not yet decided whether to give or not .
The former mayor reiterated that there is no illegality with regard to the land of the seminary. “There is no privileged information because all the plans we had for that area were public knowledge,” he said.
He also said that during the 2005 election campaign – he took office as mayor of Vinhais in October 2005 – he expressed his intention to “make that area one of urban sprawl”. “There is no privileged information,” he insisted.
“I am not accused by the Public Prosecution Service of having taken any patrimonial advantage. I am only accused, being a friend of the other two gentlemen, of having favored them. It is completely unreal,” he stated.
“This is a process that concerns me and has nothing to do with her. It is a huge injustice,” Américo Pereira lamented.
The former mayor also said that the woman “has all the competences to perform the position of Secretary of State for Agriculture” and that “she did a very good job” when she decided to join the government of António Costa.
He again pointed out that “it is a great injustice” to involve the woman in these legal proceedings, noting that the woman “has always shown great ability and great honesty”.
The new Secretary of State for Agriculture, Carla Alves Pereira, who was sworn in on Wednesday by the President of the Republic, will seize several accounts, following an investigation against her husband, Américo Pereira, former mayor of the Chamber of Vinhais, according to presents Correio da Manhã in Thursday’s edition. The official will make a statement today in response to this news.
According to the publication, the PJ managed to break banking secrecy and concluded that the current ruler, then an employee in public institutions, received more money than she declared.
The couple’s joint accounts have been on hold since March 2022 and some 700,000 euros are planned to return to the State, the newspaper said.
Carla Alves has been Regional Director of Agriculture and Fisheries in the North since 2018 and is the face of the development and certification process for the Vinhais and Bísara Breed regional smokehouse.
The new Secretary of State is a technician at the Chamber of Vinhais, which was led by her husband for 12 years.
The socialist Américo Pereira was charged 16 years after the offenses alleged against him in a trial involving more than 4.7 million euros.
At stake are several deals concluded between 2006 and 2015, also involving a company, a businessman and the rector of the former seminary of this municipality in the district of Bragança, with alleged damage to the state treasury of 1,173,719 euros, according to the accusation of the prosecution.
With Lusa
News updated at 2:38 PM
Source: DN
