Augusto Pinheiro, called as a witness by the Public Prosecutor’s Office (MP) to explain various financial transactions and movements over the years with José Santos Martins, whom the MP accuses in the ‘Operation Lex’ case of being the front-man for Rui Rangel, described the lawyer as “a puppet” of the former Lisbon Court of Appeal judge.
To illustrate, he mentioned how during friends’ gatherings at his car dealership after work, where they played cards and Santos Martins was a regular, whenever Rangel called, the lawyer would leave the table to meet the former judge.
In testimony with many overlaps with the previous witness, Armando Parente—an administrator of a commercial company owned by Santos Martins and also part of the dealership friends group—Augusto Pinheiro stated that “it was rumored” that the lawyer had a debt to Rangel that needed to be paid.
Armando Parente, the first to testify this morning, and who met Rangel through these dealership meetings, was more specific, stating that when the lawyer received these calls “he would leave, abandon everyone” and was heard saying “it was urgent to arrange money to pay Rangel.”
“It was common knowledge that Santos Martins was always scrambling to pay Rangel’s bills, to the point of almost losing all his assets,” said Armando Parente, mentioning a debt of hundreds of thousands of euros, of which Santos Martins “had settled thousands,” adding that the lawyer had to sell luxury cars, like a Ferrari, a house at Quinta da Beloura, high-value watches, “all at a bargain.”
“To meet his obligations, he had to do so this way,” he said.
Regarding real estate transactions with Santos Martins, Augusto Pinheiro mentioned a loan he made of 275,000 euros to the lawyer for purchasing an apartment in Vilamoura, from which Santos Martins never became the owner, and was questioned about the purchase of an apartment in Almada that would be owned by Rita Figueira, a defendant in the case and the mother of one of Rui Rangel’s daughters.
The deal was described by Augusto Pinheiro as “a favor” to Santos Martins, being a fictitious purchase and sale, as the property was registered in his name and returned to Rita Figueira without any payment involved.
The goal was for Rita Figueira to obtain a bank loan for the fictitious repurchase of the property.
“She needed the money,” explained Augusto Pinheiro to Chief Justice Jorge Gonçalves, who sought clarifications about the transaction, further questioning the witness if he was among the friends Santos Martins would “always ask” to pay Rangel, as previously affirmed, which Augusto Pinheiro confirmed.
Armando Parente explained that he agreed to be an administrator of a commercial company of Santos Martins at the lawyer’s request, which he accepted “out of friendship and respect” for him, never performing any acts within the functions that were presented to him as temporary—but which lasted for years—until Rui Carrera Moura assumed the role.
He also justified the transfers to Santos Martins documented in the case with the fact that he discounted promissory notes in the lawyer’s name at banks, but when questioned by prosecutor Vítor Pinto about a transfer of over two thousand euros used to pay a Credibom credit, he said he did not recall.
He further explained that “the precarious financial situation” of Santos Martins, which “constantly worsened,” meant he never paid him for the legal services rendered to him and his family, merely transferring money to pay legal fees.
The Operation Lex case was disclosed on January 30, 2018, when five people were arrested and over 30 searches were conducted, originating from a certificate extracted from the Operation Atlantic Route case involving José Veiga.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office’s charge was disclosed in September 2020, focusing the investigation on the activities of former judges Rui Rangel, Fátima Galante, and Luís Vaz das Neves—who, according to the charge, used their positions at the Lisbon Court of Appeal to obtain undue advantages for themselves or others, which they concealed.
The case involves, in general, crimes of corruption, abuse of power, money laundering, and tax fraud, among others, and some of the defendants, including Vaz das Neves, have consistently denied the charges throughout the process.
The trial is taking place at the Supreme Court of Justice, in the facilities of the former Lisbon Military Tribunal, since October 29, with sessions scheduled at least until the end of January 2026.
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