The Commission for Transparency and Statute of Deputies this Wednesday approved an opinion authorizing Joaquim Pinto Moreira, deputy of the PSD, to be named as a defendant and heard for the “alleged practice” of crimes such as passive corruption and subterfuge.
The vote on the advice took place behind closed doors, but eventually the chairman of the committee, Alexandra Leitão (PS), informed the Lusa bureau that it was approved unanimously.
A vote has yet to be taken in the plenary, which should happen on Friday.
According to the opinion that the Lusa office had access to, the Court of the Comarca of Porto has requested permission from the Assembly of the Republic for the PSD deputy Joaquim Pinto Moreira to be “classified as a defendant and questioned as such”.
It involves the alleged practice of passive corruption of political office holders – “ultimately aggravated” if the benefit is “of great value” or “considerably high” – subterfuge, influence and abuse of power.
According to the Constitution and the Statute of Deputies, the waiver of parliamentary immunity is mandatory “when there are strong indications of committing an intentional crime equivalent to imprisonment whose maximum limit exceeds three years”, which occurs in three out of four said crimes.
Joaquim Pinto Moreira, who was contacted by the committee, “expressed his wish to deliberate on the lifting of his parliamentary immunity, citing expressly that he considers the elements sent by the court to be sufficient for the Assembly to authorize for the cancellation” and requested “as soon as possible at the end of this procedure”.
On January 30, when the request for waiver of immunity was known, the Social Democratic deputy announced that he would ask for his mandate to be suspended, stating that this did not entail “any admission of guilt” and that he made this decision because he felt that he had no “right to interfere with the normal functioning of the political work” of his party “and of its highest officials”.
Pinto Moreira then indicated that he had “every interest in providing all the clarifications necessary in the context of the said investigation”, as they will be essential to prove his “complete innocence in the light of the alleged allegations” that have been uttered to him. .
This process is related to the Vortex operation, in which the home of Joaquim Pinto Moreira, former mayor of Espinho between 2009 and 2021, was searched and his computer and mobile phone were seized.
This operation resulted in the arrest of the then mayor of Espinho, Miguel Reis (PS), – who has since resigned – an official of this and three businessmen on suspicion of active and passive corruption, subterfuge, abuse of power and trafficking in influences.
Pinto Moreira was first elected as a deputy in the 2022 parliamentary elections, having become vice president of the social-democratic group led by Joaquim Miranda Sarmento after Luís Montenegro took over the PSD presidency.
The social democrat recently left the vice-chairmanship of the PSD group and the chairmanship of the parliamentary constitutional review committee after being the target of house searches as part of the Vortex operation.
Source: DN
