The Lisbon Court of Appeal (TRL) confirmed the prison sentence for the former director of the Presidency Museum, sentenced to six years and six months in prison for embezzlement, abuse of power, influence peddling and other crimes.
The TRL, in a ruling dated October 21, to which Lusa had access today, dismissed the appeal of Diogo Gaspar and the remaining three defendants in the “Operação Cavaleiro” case, rejecting the claim of the former director of the Presidency Museum to see his effective prison sentence, set, in legal terms, at six years and six months, revised to close to the minimum limits and that this could be translated into a single sentence of less than five years of prison, allowing it to be suspended in its execution.
For the TRL collective, “it is not clear” where the decision of the first instance court “is inadequate, due to a determination that is disproportionate to the prevention requirements, because it goes beyond the concrete guilt, because it violates the rules of experience or goes against what is applied in similar cases, so no objective censorship of such an assessment can be made”.
Diogo Gaspar and the remaining three defendants in “Operação Cavaleiro” were convicted in a trial at the Central Criminal Court of Lisbon on May 8, 2023.
Judge Luis Ribeiro found the practice of 18 crimes proven, including embezzlement (seven), economic participation in business (four), abuse of power (four), falsification of documents (two) and influence peddling (one) for the former director of the Museum.
“It was you who basically managed to set up the Presidency Museum. He was a trustworthy person, so he had a very close relationship with the Presidents of the Republic. And he betrayed that trust, because he wanted to have more than what he could have. This led him, for several years, within the scope of various activities, various businesses, to always try [ver] where was there an opportunity to gain something more, directly or indirectly”, said judge Luís Ribeiro.
The single sentence to be applied to Diogo Gaspar, according to the court, could vary between a minimum of one year and six months and a maximum of 17 years and nine months. “The court settled on very residual penalties. But that does not mean that his conduct over the years was not extremely serious and continued”, summarized the judge, who also decided that the defendant must compensate the general secretariat of the Presidency of the Republic.
However, the judge acquitted Diogo Gaspar of the additional penalty of prohibition from exercising functions requested by the Public Prosecutor’s Office (MP). The former director of the museum was also acquitted of 10 crimes of embezzlement, two of economic participation in a business, three of abuse of power, two of forgery and one of money laundering, with one crime of economic participation in a business and another of embezzlement being declared time-barred.
Regarding the other three defendants, the court understood that they “let themselves be influenced” by the former director of the Presidency Museum, who was described as an “extremely controlling” person.
Paulo Duarte was legally sentenced to one year and four months for one crime of economic participation in a business and one of abuse of power; José Dias was punished with a sentence of one year and seven months (legal penalty) for two crimes of economic participation in a business; and Vítor Santos saw a sentence of one year and two months in prison imposed on him for economic participation in a business.
In addition to the sentence suspended for the duration for each, the three defendants must also compensate the State in 4000, 3000 and 1000 euros, respectively.
The MP charged the four defendants in the “Operação Cavaleiro” case – Diogo Gaspar, José Dias, Paulo Duarte and Vítor Santos – with a total of 42 crimes, including abuse of power, economic participation in business, influence peddling, forgery of documents, embezzlement and money laundering.
The investigation, which was carried out by the Lisbon Department of Investigation and Criminal Action (DIAP), began in April 2015, following an anonymous tip.