Search? Carneiro wants “public clarifications” of the Minister of Justice

O secretary-General of the Socialist Party (PS), José Luís Carneiro, demanded this Wednesday “public clarifications” of the Minister of Justice, Rita Alarcão Júdice, on the searches carried out in the Judiciary Police (PJ), who targeted the national director of that police, Carlos Cabreiro.

“It is proof that, in the rule of law, institutions obey democratic scrutiny and the same rules. That is, no one is above the law and it is a thorough proof that no one is above the law”, he began by referring, when asked about the searches in an interview in RTP News. 

Carneiro argued that the Minister of Justice should “provide public clarifications that can also provide tranquility on how the Ministry of Justice and its institutions should operate regularly”.

“ Let us not forget that the Judiciary Police is one of the most relevant institutions for the administration of Justice because it is one of the police that has powers of criminal investigation, namely complex crime, which are entrusted to you strictly ", said.

“ The faster the investigations are, the faster the normal functioning of the JP is established, the better. And I think the Minister of Justice should look after this goal,” she added.

The socialist Secretary-General reiterated that “it is important” that Minister Rita Alarcão Júdice “give a public word, as a political responsible for the Ministry of Justice”. 

It should be noted that the Public Prosecutor conducted searches on Wednesday in the Judiciary Police in the context of the inquiry in which the director of the institution, Carlos Cabreiro, is suspected of false statements and abuse of power, confirmed the Attorney General of the Republic (PGR).

“ The ongoing search and seizure [...] seek to collect evidence to confirm or inform the facts in the complaint that led to the investigation, and in a statement the RMP adds that the case “has not been established”.

In a statement, the PJ assured that it had collaborated “with the judicial authorities” in the searches, “giving all the necessary support to the normal development of diligence”.

The searches extended to the headquarters of the PJ in Lisbon, after starting at the Prevention and Technological Support Unit in Loures, said source linked to the process.

According to the RMP, the inquiry, for false testimony and abuse of power, is in secret of justice and participated in today’s search “several prosecutors, inspectors of the Tax Authority and computer experts assisting the operation”.

The investigation was opened following a complaint lodged with the RMP relating to the Football Leaks case, according to which the current PJ director made false statements in court when he said that no environmental wiretaps were made in the investigation of Rui Pinto, who ended the sentence suspended from the hacker and his former lawyer, Hannibal Pinto.

This case, which was tried in 2023, involved cases of undue access and correspondence violation of entities such as Sporting, Doyen (fund for investment linked to football), the lawyer company PLMJ, the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) and PGR.

According to the complaint, these are recordings, which will have been authorized by Carlos Cabreiro, of a meeting in 2015 in a service area on the A5 motorway (Lisboa-Cascais) between Hannibal Pinto and other actors in the process, which will have been decisive for PJ to reach the identification of Rui Pinto.

Carlos Cabreiro, National Director of PJ since April 2026, was at the time of the diligence under suspicion coordinator of the Research Section of the Computer Crimes of the Lisbon and Tagus Valley Board of that criminal investigation police.

At the time of the statements in the trial of the Football Leaks case, he was director of the National Cybercrime and Technological Crime Unit of the PJ.