The Central Criminal Court of Lisbon today acquitted the current nurse, the former president of nurses and 11 other people linked to the Order for the alleged embezzlement, in 2016, of 63 thousand euros from the professional association.
Luís Filipe Barreira, aged 51, Ana Rita Cavaco, aged 49, and the remaining defendants were accused by the Public Prosecutor’s Office of the crimes of embezzlement and document forgery.
When reading the ruling, the president of the panel of judges, Armandina Silva Lopes, justified the acquittal with the fact that there was a “serious and reasonable doubt” that the defendants had committed the crimes.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office had accused the 13 defendants, all linked to the first of Ana Rita Cavaco’s two terms (2016-2023), of having, in 2016, received globally more than 63 thousand euros in allowances for fictitious trips.
Luís Filipe Barreira, president since December 2023, was, at the time, vice-president of the Board of Directors of the Order of Nurses.
Today, Armandina Silva Lopes maintained that, at the trial, it was not “fully demonstrated” that the kilometer maps presented had been forged, invoking, among other testimonies, that of a Judiciary Police inspector who admitted that the defendants may have used vehicles other than those indicated in the completed reports.
Speaking of “lapses [no preenchimento] which appear plausible”, the judge also downplayed the testimony of a defendant who partially confessed and ended up acquitted, considering that the statements presented “contradictions and weaknesses” and had an underlying “climate of great animosity” against the remaining defendants.
“Once the doubt arises, it is necessary to decide in favor of the defendants, in the name of the principle ‘in dubio pro reo’”, concluded the presiding judge.
Upon leaving the court, the lawyers for most of the defendants, Tiago Costa Andrade and Rui Patrício, were satisfied with the acquittal.
“The facts were considered unproven, the defendants were acquitted, the court decides in accordance with the rules of criminal proceedings”, stressed Rui Patrício.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office indictment was filed in January 2023 and the trial began in January 2025.