The prosecution by the PPO alleges that José Costa approved various architectural projects from the construction company owned by Francisco Pessegueiro in a preferential manner, in exchange for monetary compensation, acting with manifest and intense abuse of public function and significantly and severely violating the duties concerning the correct exercise of that function.
Before the panel of judges, the defendant asserted that, in his decision-making, he always acted with the conviction that he was complying with the applicable rules and regulations, further denying any external pressure, notably from his hierarchical superiors.
“It was my conviction and remains so that I acted in accordance with the law and with the dispersion of public interest in all the acts I performed,” he declared.
The defendant also denied having imposed any decisions on the technicians of the division he headed, in all procedures processed during his tenure at the Espinho City Council.
“All the information the technicians produced was always in good conscience and according to their judgment and never due to any imposition by the leadership or any other body or entity,” he assured.
The former head of the municipal division admitted to having received a bottle of wine from Pessegueiro during a meeting that took place in December 2020 in a café in Espinho, where architect João Rodrigues was also present. He denied, however, that they requested him to approve the amendments made to the 32 Nascente project, as the PPO’s accusation indicates.
José Costa, who is charged with a crime of passive corruption, five crimes of prevarication, and a crime of violation of urban rules by an official, risking the ancillary penalty of prohibition from exercising functions, was the only defendant who had not yet testified in court, opting to do so now after several witnesses for the prosecution had been heard.
The defendant was transferred from Valongo City Council to Espinho City Council in January 2011 under a service commission regime, during the presidency of Pinto Moreira, occupying the position of head of the division of private works and licensing.
In 2023, he returned to Valongo City Council but only resumed duties in April 2024, after the Court of Appeal overturned the coercive measure, which had been imposed on him, suspending him from exercising public functions.
The Vortex process relates to “real estate projects and their licensing, concerning multifamily buildings and hotel units, involving urban interests worth tens of millions of euros, processed in favor of certain economic operators.”
The operation culminated on January 10, 2023, with the arrest of the then mayor of Espinho, Miguel Reis, the head of the Urbanism and Environment Division of that municipality, an architect, and two businessmen on suspicion of active and passive corruption, prevarication, abuse of power, and influence peddling.
On July 10 of the same year, the PPO pressed charges against eight defendants and five companies, including two former mayors of Espinho, Miguel Reis and Pinto Moreira, who was also named as a defendant in this process, after being heard by the Regional Department of Investigation and Penal Action in Porto.
