In perhaps the most bizarre twist yet in the ongoing CITIUS-collapse scandal, Portugal’s Minister of Justice has now accused two IT technicians of sabotage.
As union boss Fernando Jorge has been quick to point out: “Sabotage? Why? To what possible benefits?”
But perhaps the mere word, and the degree of “dastardly intrigue” it conjures, has taken some of the pressure off the increasingly frail-looking Paula Teixeira da Cruz, who has been under fire since her ministry’s portal imploded at the beginning of September, dropping 3.5 million cases and effectively lopping 44 days off the country’s court calendar.
For now, PJ technicians Hugo Tavares and Paulo Queirós have been cast as the villains of the piece.
Disciplinary processes are ongoing, while both have been removed from their responsibilities at the IGFEJ (the justice ministry’s financial management institute) and are back with the PJ on other duties, writes national tabloid Correio da Manhã.
Neither man has ever been connected to any other criminal investigation, adds the paper.
But Justice Minister Teixeira da Cruz is apparently alleging that both knew of the problems CITIUS would run into, but gave the green-light on its state of health nonetheless.
The men are now being investigated by the Attorney General’s department of cybercrime – but intriguingly NOT for sabotage.
According to Diário de Notícias, magistrate Pedro Verdelho is working on the allegation of “omission of information”.
In other words, “sabotage” may simply be today’s buzzword.
As Público points out, the whole situation is generating controversy within the justice system, as well as the PJ. There are those who “consider there is no evidence whatsoever to point responsibilities at the two men. On the contrary, they are described as responsible and capable professionals”.
In CM today, court workers’ union president Fernando Jorge said that if the men had been able to ‘sabotage’ the justice portal “it shows the fragility of the system, and the incompetence of those who idolise it.”
