Lisbon, Oct. 16, 2024 (Lusa) - Portugal's minister of justice said on Wednesday that "megaprocesses deserve reflection from the entire legal community", emphasising that it is important for justice to be "as close to events as possible", referring to the BES/GES case.
"There was a big process. Ten years have passed since it began and the important thing is for justice to be as close to events as possible," she told journalists on the sidelines of the 13th National Meeting of the Law Society of Portugal (ASAP), at the Belém Cultural Centre in Lisbon.
Rita Alarcão Júdice was responding after being asked how digital processing, which will come into force on 3 December, could be essential in the reform of mega-processes.
"Mega-processes deserve reflection by the entire legal community and I believe that this process, which has now begun after 10 years, will help us all to make that reflection," she said.
The elimination of paper in communications "will be a great revolution in criminal proceedings", she added.
"It will make it faster, easier to process evidence, easier to communicate," she emphasised.
At the opening ceremony of the ASAP meeting, Rita Alarcão Júdice said that as of 3 December, lawyers "will be submitting all written documents electronically" and that cases will be consulted electronically as of April next year.
Electronic communication will also be used to send notices by the different police forces.
"We believe this measure [...] will make a big difference to the smooth running of criminal proceedings. It's good for the courts, lawyers and, above all, those who seek justice," he said.
The former chairman of BES, Ricardo Salgado, is the main defendant in the BES/GES case and is in court for 62 offences, allegedly committed between 2009 and 2014.
Among the offences charged are one of criminal association, 12 of active corruption in the private sector, 29 of qualified fraud, five of infidelity, one of market manipulation, seven of money laundering and seven of document forgery.
According to the Public Prosecutor's Office, the collapse of GES caused losses of more than €11.8 billion.
JML/ADB // ADB.
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