Vila Nova de Gaia City Council
Patrocínio Azevedo, former vice-mayor of Gaia City Council
João Lopes quoted his father in court: he said he deserved “a pair of licks in the trumples” for the “poor money”. Transactions passed at the shopping center’s bathroom.
The lawyer involved in Operation Babel João Lopes He confessed in court that he received large amounts of money in various circumstances, including a delivery to the Norteshopping toilet in Matosinhos.
The lawyer, who is among the 16 defendants in the lawsuit that returned this Tuesday, explained that in 2021, Used the name of the then vice-mayor of Gaia, Patrocínio Azevedo (in the photo), to ask for 50 thousand euros to Paulo Malafaia and Elad Dronentrepreneurs linked to various real estate projects.
However, according to the lawyer, the money was always requested for themselves: the entrepreneurs thought they were bribing the ‘deputy’ of the municipality, guarantees João Lopes.
“I tried to create a scenario that was for the engineer [Patrocínio]but he never received a euro (…). I spent poorly spent money, bought a car for my wife. As my father said: it was a pair of licking in these trumples, ”he said, quoted by.
One of the deliveries took place at Norteshopping’s bathroom.
“We went to the bathroom that Mr. Malafaia has a urinary problem. I stayed by the washbasins and he went to the cubicles. He then exchanged the contents of the bags he had and gave me the black bag of putting his waist. I didn’t tell the money, ”he explained in court.
In this bag would be 24,600 euros, but an earlier delivery contemplated 25 thousand euros for allegedly the lawyer to deal with problems in the Riverside project. But the accusation maintains that the real value would be almost 100 thousand eurossuggesting that the amount would be destined to favor the Fortara Group, owned by Drog and Malafaia.
The lawyer claimed that when requesting the money, he never mentioned his intention to corrupt the vice president, but only to “facilitate the solution, through money” to the project problems.
“I implied that the money wasn’t for me, but I never said it was going to corrupt the sponsorship engineer. I implied that it made the solution easier through money, ”said João Lopes.
The lawyer also revealed that Malafaia gave him a Coluna de Som, no value of 400 eurosas part of the deliveries in the shopping center. “It’s already bombing, top“Then said João Lopes by message. “Now to pump the PIP,” replied Malafaia, referring to the approval of the request for prior information from a work.
The lawyer was confronted with telephone wires that suggested that the money was, in fact, for Azevedo, but Lopes insisted that these conversations were a staging. He says that eventually, Malafaia and Dar realize that the money was intended for him.
João Lopes, who faces accusations of corruption and influence trafficking, is heard this Tuesday once again in court.
