The Public Ministry (MP) will appeal the acquittal of the current nurse, the former president of nurses and 11 other people linked to the Order for alleged embezzlement in the professional association, informed the Attorney General’s Office (PGR).
“The Public Prosecutor’s Office intends to appeal the decision made, which has not yet become final.“, he indicated, in response to Lusa, an official PGR source, without providing further details.
On November 24, the Central Criminal Court of Lisbon acquitted the current president of nurses, Luís Filipe Barreira, his predecessor, Ana Rita Cavaco, and 11 other defendants linked to the first of the latter’s two terms (2016-2023) of the alleged embezzlement, in 2016, of 63 thousand euros from the Order.
At issue, according to the MP’s accusation, was the receipt of allowances for presumably fictitious trips.
Luís Filipe Barreira, president since December 2023, was at the time vice-president of the Board of Directors of the Order of Nurses.
When reading the ruling, the president of the panel of judges, Armandina Silva Lopes, justified the acquittal with the fact that there was a “serious and reasonable doubt” that the defendants had committed the crimes of embezzlement and forgery of documents of which they were accused.
In the closing arguments of the trial, which began on January 20, 2025, the MP had requested that the 11 defendants be sentenced to suspended prison sentences.
On November 24, the lawyers for the majority of the defendants, Tiago Costa Andrade and Rui Patrício, were satisfied with the acquittal, while Luís Filipe Barreira assured that he had never expected “any other outcome” other than the recognition by the courts that he had not committed any wrongdoing.