The Lisbon Court today ordered the release of the Portuguese lawyer and former MP Duarte Lima, who had been under house arrest, on the grounds that the danger of him fleeing is reduced.
In March the Lisbon Criminal Court continued Lima’s period of house arrest as one of six defendants in a trial related to corrupt practices surrounding land acquisition in Oeiras using a loan from BPN. Duarte Lima also has been charged by Brazilian authorities with the 2009 murder of Rosalina Ribeiro in Rio de Janeiro.
On the land deal Duarte Lima has been charged with three counts of aggravated fraud, two counts of money laundering and a criminal breach of trust. With these serious charges against him the court remanded him in custody until May 2012 after which he was under house arrest, now he is free.
Despite the murder charge in Brazil, and the serious charges in Portugal, lawyer Duarte Lima is now subject to the most lenient treatment available. Despite being free, he may not travel abroad, according to his lawyer Rogério Alves who is aware that in February this year the Attorney General's Office in Portugal received a request from Brazil for assistance in investigating the murder of Rosalina Ribeiro, Lima's former client.
Ribeiro was killed with two shots in December 2009 after allegedly refusing to sign a document diverting millions to Lima from millionaire Lúcio Thomé Feteira.
Duarte Lima is well known and well connected in Portugal as he is a former MP, a lawyer and was vice president of the National Policy Committee of the PSD between 1989 and 1991, chairing its parliamentary group between 1991 and 1994.
Interpol
The Attorney General's Office in Portugal received a request from Brazil for assistance in investigating the murder of Rosalina Ribeiro, Lima's former client.
Ribeiro was killed with two shots in December 2009 after allegedly refusing to sign a document diverting millions to Lima from deceased millionaire Lúcio Thomé Feteira's account.
Lima is on Interopol's Wanted list; is is obvious where Lima is, yet he remains at liberty.
Why the Brazilian authorities have not insisted on Lima's deportation to face murder charges remains a mystery and the fact that there is no extradition treaty between Brazil and Portugal itself if of enduring suspicon.
'Wanted by the judicial authorities of Brazil for prosecution / to serve a sentence'
| Present family name: | LIMA |
| Forename: | DOMINGOS DUARTE |
| Sex: | Male |
| Date of birth: | 20/11/1955 (59 years old) |
| Place of birth: | Portugal |
| Language spoken: | Portuguese |
| Nationality: | Portugal |
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