"With seven votes against and four in favour, the Constitutional Court denied the Habeas Corpus of the former minister Augusto Tomás, because it considered unfounded the trial of appeal filed by lawyers and because it considered that at the time of the interposition the sentence had already been pronounced by the plenary on 19 November, and that the issues raised in the request were answered," said the Constitutional Court source, in statements to Novo Jornal.
The lead of the Constitutional Court was also confirmed by Sérgio Raimundo, one of Augusto Tomás' lawyers, to the same newspaper. However, the lawyer did not want to go into further details.
Constitutional Court's decision now dictates that the former minister will have to continue serving his sentence of eight years and four months.
Augusto Tomás was sentenced in August last year to 14 years in prison for the crimes of embezzlement, violation of the rules of implementation of the budget plan on a continuous basis, abuse of power on a continuous basis and economic participation. At the time, Augusto Tomás was acquitted, for lack of evidence, of the crimes of money laundering, criminal association and participation in business.
The former minister's defence eventually appealed his sentence and the court decided to reduce the sentence to eight years and four months in prison.
Together with the former Minister of Transport, the former managers of the CNC were also convicted.
