“Following the existing situation, which caused profound consternation in the academic community, [FDUL] decided to suspend its public employment bond (public functions employment contract) with the Faculty,” stated the institution in a communiqué.
According to the note signed by the director of FDUL, Eduardo Vera Cruz Pinto, Paulo Abreu dos Santos was currently a guest assistant at the educational institution, and “issues relating to the evaluation of students in the subjects” taught by the lecturer “are being duly safeguarded institutionally.”
The faculty further emphasized that it is gathering “relevant information” and collaborating with authorities, remaining attentive to the case “to intervene if and when appropriate.”
The former aide to the previous Minister of Justice, Catarina Sarmento e Castro, was detained on Thursday by the Judiciary Police and, according to TVI/CNN, was caught in the act during a search of his home, where files incriminating him for sexual crimes involving minors were found.
Two days later, the court ordered the preventive detention of the defendant, who had served at the Ministry of Justice in 2023 and 2024, confirmed a police source to Lusa.
The aide to former Minister of Justice Catarina Sarmento e Castro allegedly abused at least two Portuguese children aged only 10 years.
The Judiciary Police, in charge of the case and who detained the man on Friday, December 12, as confirmed by the Notícias ao Minuto, is now trying to identify the two minors, so they can be heard as victims in the process.
Meanwhile, a law firm with which the ex-MoJ aide worked voiced being “shocked and dismayed” by the case.
“Having been surprised by the news reporting the involvement of the former employee, Dr. Paulo Abreu Santos, in the context of a criminal investigation of serious nature, the firm expresses itself as shocked and dismayed by the content of the same,” stated Ana Bruno & Associados on their official website.
According to the curriculum note in the Diário da República, Paulo Jorge Abreu dos Santos, 38, is a law graduate and practiced as a lawyer and opinion writer, particularly in the areas of corporate, commercial litigation, insolvency, and arbitration.
