Tutti Frutti: Former mayors among the 56 defendants who go to trial

Othe former presidents of the joints of Freguesia da Estrela and Santo António, in Lisbon, go to trial for crimes of corruption and prevarication in the Tutti Fruti case, decided today the court of inquiry.

Of the 59 defendants accused by the prosecution, only three do not follow for trial: Ângelo Pereira, former mayor of Lisbon by the PSD, Inês Drummond, former city councilwoman of Lisbon by the PS, and Ivone Gonçalves, activist of the PSD de Loures.

According to the decision of the Central Court of Criminal Instruction of Lisbon, among the 56 defendants who follow for trial are former president of the Board of Freguesia of the Star Luís Newton, former president of the Board of Freguesia of Santo António Vasco Morgado and former deputy in the Assembly of the Republic by PSD Sérgio Azevedo.

During the reading of the decision, Judge Cláudia Pina explained that in relation to Angelo Pereira, accused of receiving an advantage due to a trip to China, “it is not indicted that the trip represented a real advantage” for you.

On Inês Drummond, the court understood that “it is possible that the defendant acted in good faith” in relation to the award of contracts, not knowing that Sérgio Azevedo could derive benefits from it.

The court of inquiry has not yet considered it sufficiently proven that invoices issued by Ivone Gonçalves constitute a crime. “It is not possible to be sure and therefore ‘in dubio pro reo’,” the judge said.

In question are alleged favors to activists of the PS and the PSD, through avenges and public contracts, and among the defendants, in addition to those already mentioned by the Public Prosecutor, is still the former deputy of PSD Carlos Eduardo Reis, elected this year leader of Braga district of the PSD.

The prosecution of the Public Prosecutor was deduced in 2025 against 60 defendants, counting at this time 59 accused, since Fernando Braamcamp, former president of the Board of Freguesia do Areeiro and accused of 39 crimes of passive corruption, died in April this year.

The Public Prosecutor even investigated Fernando Medina, former mayor of Lisbon, but he was not accused, since it was not possible to deduce that Fernando Medina had acted “for the unequivocal purpose” of benefiting other defendants.

In the prosecution, the prosecutor also asked 29 of the defendants to return more than 580,000 euros to the State: for example, Sérgio Azevedo, former deputy and leader of the representation of the PSD in the Lisbon Municipal Assembly between 2013 and 2017, are demanded more than 123,000 euros.