“I filed an appeal today for the Plenary of the Constitutional Court alleging nullities regarding the incorrect and unfair decision made by the said Court, which is not yet final,” stated Eduardo Vítor Rodrigues, reiterating that his actions were not intended to delay the process, having already resigned as president of the Vila Nova de Gaia City Council on June 30.
On the same day as his resignation, the Constitutional Court confirmed at a conference the final decision of removing him from office for the misuse of a municipal vehicle in the Porto district municipality.
The decision, obtained by the Lusa agency, follows the socialist mayor’s complaint to the Constitutional Court conference, after this court confirmed, in a summary decision, the judgment of the Porto Court of Appeal, which upheld in October 2024, the initial ruling of mandate loss decided by the Vila Nova de Gaia Court (first instance) in November 2023.
The Constitutional Court in the 1st Section conference, “denied the claims made by the complainants,” Eduardo Vítor Rodrigues and his wife, also convicted in this case, and “therefore confirmed the summary decision” issued by the Constitutional Court in May this year.
At that time, the mayor told Lusa that he had 10 days to file for nullities and stated he would proceed to do so.
“I do it in the name of Justice and on behalf of all mayors who should not continue to endure these humiliations,” he declared today in a statement, advocating for “clarification of the blind and unjust automatic application of accessory sanctions.”
Eduardo Vítor expressed unwillingness “to passively accept such an injustice” and insisted on his innocence.
“I am innocent, but I seek nothing more than to prevent others from enduring the same personal and institutional ordeal I’ve experienced. Therefore, I will always fight, hoping others will look at the matter with full consideration,” he stated.
In November 2023, Eduardo Vítor Rodrigues was found guilty by the Vila Nova de Gaia Court for embezzlement of use, resulting in the loss of his mandate and a fine of 8,400 euros for the personal use of a municipal electric vehicle.
The first instance court also convicted the mayor’s wife of the same crime with the same fine amount, leading them to appeal to the Porto Court of Appeal.
Regarding the mayor, the Porto Court reduced the fine to 4,800 euros, while upholding the mandate removal, as noted in the judgment accessed by Lusa.
The Porto Court of Appeal acquitted Eduardo Vítor Rodrigues’s wife of the crime and the imposed fine but maintained the order to return the benefits obtained.
Neither Eduardo Vítor Rodrigues nor his wife, who did not attend the first instance sentencing on November 14, 2023, provided statements during the trial.
The Public Prosecutor’s (MP) accusation claimed the defendants “decided to use, as if it were their own,” an electric vehicle acquired via financial lease by a municipal company following a direct adjustment contract signed on October 13, 2017, “with a monthly rent” of 614 euros.
“As a result of this conduct,” the accusation states, the defendants “unduly benefited” from 4,916 euros, representing eight lease payments for the vehicle between November 2017 and June 2018.
The mayor and his wife requested the opening of an instruction phase, but the Porto Criminal Instruction Court (TIC) decided to prosecute in December 2021, adhering precisely to the MP’s January-filed charges.
