In another extraordinary quirk of Portuguese justice, a former policeman handed a 12-year jail sentence for corruption has seen his bid for back-pay from the PJ upheld by judges at the supreme administrative court, so that the criminal police force now stands duty bound to hand him up to €400,000. The case has been progressing through the court system for two decades, explains Correio da Manhã this morning.
António Caetano was released from jail in 2001. His case rested on the ‘unfairness’ of the disciplinary punishment he received after being ‘ratted on’ by PJ colleagues.
Caetano’s conviction involved nine crimes of falsification of arrest warrants, 16 crimes of abuse of power and 13 of fraud.
But supreme administrative court judges have ruled that not only is Caetano eligible to receive back pay since his expulsion from the police force in 1994, but he should also be allowed to return to active duty.
CM concedes that this would almost automatically see him come up for retirement, for which he should also receive full pay.
The paper adds that the court ruling does not allow for any form of appeal. “The justice ministry will now have to pay the salaries (owing) to the condemned policeman”, it adds.
