The decision, obtained by Lusa today, follows a complaint by the socialist mayor to the Constitutional Court (TC) conference, after the court confirmed, in a summary decision, the ruling of the Court of Appeal of Porto that upheld in October 2024 the sentence of loss of mandate, decided by the Vila Nova de Gaia court (first instance) in November 2023.
The TC resolved, in the 1st Section conference, “to dismiss the complaints submitted by the claimants,” Eduardo Vítor Rodrigues and his wife, who was also convicted in this case, and “therefore, to confirm the summary decision” delivered by the TC in May this year.
“Reaffirm the judgment of non-unconstitutionality of the norm arising from Article 29, subparagraph f), of Law No. 34/87, of July 16, whereby the final conviction for a crime of responsibility committed in the exercise of their functions by a member of a representative body of a local authority implies the loss of the respective mandate; and consequently, in this last part, deny the appeal,” states the ruling.
The TC’s decision, which is not subject to appeal, coincides with the day socialist Eduardo Vítor Rodrigues leaves his post as mayor of Vila Nova de Gaia, after first being elected in the 2013 municipal elections, with current vice-president Marina Mendes taking over the leadership of the municipality from Tuesday.
Contacted by Lusa today, the municipality indicated that Eduardo Vítor Rodrigues will only comment on the final decision after it becomes final, which occurs 10 days after the date of notification of the ruling.
In November 2023, Eduardo Vítor Rodrigues was convicted by the Vila Nova de Gaia court for the crime of embezzlement of use, resulting in loss of mandate and a fine of 8,400 euros for personal use of a municipal electric vehicle.
The first-instance court similarly convicted the mayor’s wife for the same crime, imposing a fine of the same amount, with the defendants appealing to the TRP.
Regarding the mayor, the Porto Appeal Court reduced the fine to 4,800 euros, maintaining the loss of mandate sentence, according to the ruling accessed by Lusa at the time.
The TRP acquitted Eduardo Vítor Rodrigues’s wife of the crime and fine imposed but maintained the decision regarding the loss of the benefit obtained.
Eduardo Vítor Rodrigues and his wife, absent from the reading of the first-instance sentence on November 14, 2023, never testified during the trial.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office (MP) alleged that the defendants “decided to use, as if it were their own,” an electric vehicle acquired under a finance lease by a municipal company, following a direct award contract made on October 13, 2017, “with a monthly rent payment” of 614 euros.
“As a result of this conduct,” the accusation states, the defendants “improperly benefited” from 4,916 euros, the value of the eight lease payments for the vehicle between November 2017 and June 2018.
The mayor and his wife requested the opening of an investigation, but the Criminal Investigation Court (TIC) of Porto decided in December 2021 to bring the couple to trial under the same terms as the MP’s accusation filed in January that year.
“I am not going to lose any mandate and will carry it through to the end,” the mayor asserted the day after learning of the Porto Appeal Court’s decision made in October 2024.
