The Public Ministry has dropped five of the cases it had running against the young computer genius so often dubbed by the national press as a ‘hacker’.
Rui Pinto, 31, considers himself a whistleblower as do his lawyers and many supporters.
And at long last the Public Ministry, and indeed the press, is ‘catching on’ to the more flattering terminology.
Indeed, Observador now refers to Rui Pinto as the ‘ex-hacker’.
The bottom line is that the active cooperation he has given authorities investigating what clearly are illegal practices within the footballing world has persuaded ‘superjudge’ Carlos Alexandre to approve the suspension of five cases.
It’s not (yet) a formal archiving “but everything points to the five investigations into the crimes of illegitimate IT access being formally closed within a year and a half”, writes the online.
In the meantime, young Mr Pinto will be expected to continue with his active collaboration, and “not return to committing identical crimes”.
Readers who followed the breaking of ‘Football Leaks’ – which led to high-profile law cases involving millions of euros in ‘ingenious’ schemes of tax evasion – the source was always described as a “fervent Portuguese football fan who despairs of the corruption and avarice in his sport” (click here).
It is universally accepted that Rui Pinto was/ is that fervent Portuguese football fan.
He was arrested in Hungary last year and faces 90 crimes (reduced from an original charge sheet of 147) for his unauthorised but invaluable internet ‘access’.
Since young Mr Pinto began his ‘collaboration’ with Portuguese investigators, much has changed in the world of national football (click here), and only last week the director of DCIAP (department of criminal investigation and penal action) and deputy attorney general Albano Pinto (no relation) praised Rui Pinto for his “total availability and spontaneity to get to the truth”.
Last month, it was the head of the PJ Luís Neves who praised him (click here).
Rui Pinto’s lawyers meantime have petitioned to have their client finally released from house arrest. He has been effectively ‘imprisoned’, unable to use the internet, since his detention in 2019.
