The goal, according to the accusation, was to pump money into the El Sadino club, which was going through financial difficulties. The Public Prosecution accuses Luis Felipe Vieira and Paulo Gonçalves (former legal advisor) of involvement Transferring millions of euros from Benfica, through fake deals in the transfer of Brazilian players.
The prosecution claims that Benfica paid €4.2 million in commissions for free players worth €725,000 euro. The case concerns crimes of corruption with economic involvement in business and tax fraud, within the scope of the operation known as the e-mail case.
The indictment stipulates that in the event of a conviction, Benfica and Vitoria de Setubal must be tried. Suspension from “participating in sports competitions for a period ranging between six months and three years.”
As for Luis Felipe Vieira and Paulo Gonçalves, the representative requests this “Prohibiting the practice of a profession, job or activity, whether public or private, for a period ranging between one and five years.”
Rui Costa was acquitted, but the Public Ministry charged the incarnate SAD with crimes of sports corruptionimproper presentation of a benefit and qualifying tax fraud. Domingos Soares, the former Benfica manager, also went from being a defendant to a witness in the prosecution.
This is because There is no evidence that Ruy Costa and Domingos Soares Oliveira participated in the alleged schemeWhose mentor was former Benfica president Luis Felipe Vieira.
the The judicial police also investigatedin the same time period (between 2016 and 2019). Performance of Vitoria de Setubal football team in matches against Benfica. The investigation concluded that Club da Luz benefited from it Poor performance on the field was allegedly intentional by some Sadino FC players.
Sport Lisbon and Benfica have already responded in a statement confirming that they will defend themselves against the “unfounded accusations.” “There is no doubt that Sport Lisbon and Benfica will defend themselves, without hesitation, against all baseless (and from what has already been analysed, baseless) accusations.”
In the same memo, the Red Club stated that its lawyers “will analyze the accusation in detail.”
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