Former Economy Minister Manuel Pinho has already reacted to the request for at least nine years in prison made by the Public Ministry, within the scope of the EDP case.

"I don't believe that will happen", Pinho told reporters, leaving the Lisbon Central Criminal Court, where he praised the "exceptional" work done by journalists in covering the process, stating that the judges "are fair". "It is a request from the Public Ministry, tomorrow it is my lawyer who will speak and then it will be up to the court to decide. I did not make any predictions", he added.

"It was proven that acts of corruption, zero. I am totally sure. I do not anticipate, I believe in the court and I am absolutely sure that I did not commit any act of corruption and that I had a contract with BES dated 2004", he also argued, criticizing that what the prosecutor [Rui Batista] said has nothing to do with what was said here".

"I then paid what the law and society demand. There is no doubt about that", he also stated. Regarding the request for a suspended sentence for his wife, Alexandra Pinto, he said: "I did not expect it, nor did I stop expecting it. What I know is that she has not been able to travel abroad for two and a half years, her accounts are frozen".

Manuel Pinho reiterated that "one thing is certain": "Of the witnesses who were called here - and more than half were called by the Public Ministry - not one of them confirms the Public Ministry's thesis. Of the material facts presented here, not one confirms this".

According to Manuel Pinho, "the Public Ministry can say that the witnesses and the material evidence were not what they were", but the statements of the witnesses "contradict their thesis" of a corrupt pact with the former president of the Espírito Santo Group (GES), Ricardo Salgado.

The Public Ministry (MP) today requested a sentence of not less than nine years in prison for former Economy Minister Manuel Pinho in the trial of the EDP case, in which he is being tried in court for passive corruption, fraud and money laundering.

"What is relevant from our point of view in these crimes: criminal censure. They are not crimes of impulse, they are considered crimes. In this case, a sentence that must guarantee the blameworthiness and that the crime does not pay is relevant", said prosecutor Rui Batista, at the end of the final arguments in the trial at the Lisbon Central Criminal Court.

For the prosecutor, "a final sentence of not less than nine years in prison will be appropriate for the censure of the crimes".

For the former president of Banco Espírito Santo (BES), Ricardo Salgado, the Public Ministry requested six to seven years of effective imprisonment, while for the wife of the former government official, Alexandra Pinho, the application of a four-year sentence was defended, suspended in its execution.

For about four hours, the Public Ministry magistrate recovered the arguments of the accusation and reviewed the evidence produced over about seven months of trial, considering that the existence of a "corrupt agreement" between Ricardo Salgado and Manuel Pinho had been proven so that the latter would act in defense of the interests of the Espírito Santo Group (GES) while he was in the exercise of public functions.

Manuel Pinho, under house arrest since December 2021, is being tried in the EDP case for passive corruption for illicit act, passive corruption, money laundering and tax fraud.

His wife, Alexandra Pinho, is charged with money laundering and tax fraud - in material co-authorship with her husband -, while the former president of BES, Ricardo Salgado, is charged with active corruption for illicit act, active corruption and money laundering.

[News updated at 5:32 pm]

Read Also: EDP Case. Public Ministry requests prison sentence for Manuel Pinho and Ricardo Salgado (Portuguese version)