The reading of the verdict in the "Operação Vórtex" case, which is being held at the Espinho Court, was postponed for the fourth time. Initially scheduled for March 20, it had been successively postponed to April, May and then to September 4, a date which has now also been postponed sine die.
The postponement is due to the fact that the court communicated a non-substantive alteration of facts to the procedural parties, and a period was granted for the exercise of the right of reply by the parties involved in the case.
The process involves, among other defendants, former mayors Miguel Reis and Pinto Moreira, as well as businessman Francisco Pessegueiro. The trial took place over 140 sessions.
The presiding judge of the panel of judges, Carlos Casas Azevedo, explained that the delay is due to the large size of the case and its exceptional complexity, which involves the assessment of technical issues of architecture and urban planning, the processing of various administrative procedures, the analysis of extensive documentary evidence with a high technical nature, as well as intercepted communications collected in the case files.
