Vila Nova de Gaia City Council
Patrocínio Azevedo, vice-president of the Gaia City Council
Patrocínio Azevedo rejects the accusations within the scope of Operation Babel and states that it was Eduardo Vítor Rodrigues who chose the location of the congress center, one of the urban projects under suspicion.
After 20 months in preventive detention, Patrocínio Azevedo, former vice-mayor of Gaia, declared yesterday in the Court of Gaia that he never participated in any “secret and corruptive pact” related to the projects investigated in the Operation Babel.
“I am arrested for defending the interests of the municipality”, assured the suspect, who is accused, along with 15 other defendants, of being part of a scheme to defraud urban licensing processes in exchange of financial advantages which, according to the Public Ministry (MP), reached hundreds of thousands of euros.
The crimes under analysis include corruption, influence peddling, money laundering, abuse of power and economic participation in business and have even led the city of Gaia to demand an assessment from Patrocínio Azevedo due to the negative impact that the case had on the image of the municipality.
In his testimony, Patrocínio Azevedo rejected the accusations and stated that the choice of location for the congress center, one of the projects under suspicion, was exclusive decision of the President of the ChamberEduardo Vitor Rodrigues. The former vice president assured that he had no involvement in the choice of Fazenda do Custódio as the location for the project, attributing the decision to a commission appointed by the city hall, says the .
Patrocínio also complained about the difficulties faced by his family due to the freezing of assets by the authorities, stating that this situation forced his wife to “live off your children“. Regarding lawyer João Lopes, appointed by the MP as an intermediary in the scheme, the former vice-president stated that he only knew him in a professional context.
The defense of the accused, including businessmen such as Paulo Malafaia and Elad Dror, classified the accusation as “irrational” and based on a narrative that confuses legitimate administrative practices with criminal activities. However, according to the complaint, Patrocínio Azevedo would have received R$ 120 thousand and luxury watches worth R$ 12 thousand as bribery to favor interests of builders.
The session also had moments of tension when Elad Dror’s lawyer, João Peres, asked for the trial to be postponed, citing a lack of time to prepare the defense. Despite the judges’ rejection of the request, Peres declared that he was not in a position to defend his client and announced that he would file an appeal.
