Correio da
Manhã reported on 22 September that the prosecutor in the Operação Lex case
accused Rui Rangel of having received 900,000 in cash which he has deposited in
his bank account, with a total of 270 deposits registered. Prosecutors believe
this money comes from crimes such as passive corruption.
The first
hearings into the so-called "Operação Lex" began on 21 September at
the Supreme Court of Justice (STJ), with the hearing of the first witnesses,
almost two years after the Public Prosecutor's Office charged 17 defendants.
The case takes place at the Supreme Court of Portugal, as the crimes have
judges from the court of appeal involved.
Rui Rangel,
former judge of the Lisbon Court of Appeal, is being charged with two counts of
passive corruption, four counts of abuse of power, one count of receiving undue
advantages, one count of usurpation of office, six counts of forgery of
documents, six counts of tax fraud and one count of money laundering.
Among the
defendants are three former judges: Rui Rangel, Fátima Galante (Rangel's
ex-wife and also a judge herself) and Luís Vaz das Neves (former president of
the Lisbon Court of Appeal, who has since retired) and the former president of
Benfica Luís Filipe Vieira, the club's vice-president, Fernando Tavares, the
businessman José Veiga, etc.