The President of the Portuguese Bar Association, João Massano, has criticized the designation of a lawyer as a formal suspect solely to bypass professional secrecy rules and justify seizures without concrete suspicion of criminal involvement, labeling it as “absolutely illegal and an offense to the legal profession.”
On Tuesday, the Public Prosecutor’s Office reported raids at TAP due to suspicions of harmful administration, illegal receipt or offer of advantages, economic participation in business, and abuse of power. These took place at a Lisbon law office and involved searches of computer equipment at the Government’s General Secretariat.
Massano highlighted that the Code of Criminal Procedure, which governs searches and the identification of suspects, “prohibits the seizure of correspondence related to the practice of the profession,” except for “documentation on criminal facts in which the lawyer is already designated as a suspect.”
This exception “justified formally designating a colleague as a suspect in Tuesday’s operation connected to TAP,” the statement reveals.
In response to Tuesday’s searches, SRS Legal, led by Pedro Rebelo de Sousa and targeted in the ‘Cheque In’ operation, described the suspect’s designation as a procedural necessity for copying email correspondence related to the case.
“The searches focused on electronic correspondence related to the aforementioned case and were limited to the 2022 calendar year. To copy and remove this correspondence from a law firm, the designation of a suspect is mandatory. It is common practice in such proceedings, especially in law offices,” stated SRS Legal’s note, which confirmed its full cooperation with authorities.
The investigation, managed by the Lisbon Public Prosecutor’s Office, examines “facts related to compensation granted upon the resignation of a board member and executive committee member of TAP.”
In December 2022, TAP faced controversy over paying 500,000 euros in compensation to former board member Alexandra Reis for her early departure. On May 31, 2023, the executive confirmed returning 266,412.76 euros, “the total net amount specified by TAP,” on that day.
