Photo: Henrique Araújo, Judge Counsellor and President of the Supreme Court of Justice
The President of the Supreme Court of Justice (STJ), Henrique Araújo, has denounced corruption in Portugal, while criticising political powers for their unwillingness in turning the judicial sector into a priority
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Lusa
November 3rd, 2023
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Translation: Telmo Ferreira – NAATI Accredited Translator (https://tftraducoes.com/en/)
“Justice is not a priority to the political authority (…) I don’t see that there is any desire from political leaders to change anything,” said the judge counsellor and President of the STJ, in an interview for Nascer do Sol newspaper, published this Friday.
Amongst the problems to which he advocates changes in legislation, Henrique Araújo referred mega-proceedings and procedural laws, where he emphasised there is “a lot of work to be done”; the end of the suspensive effect on judicial decisions, while appealing to the Constitutional Court, which he argued it would be “easy to change”; and, above all, the battle against corruption, which he said is settled in the country, by starting with the establishment of the illicit enrichment crime.
“It would be a good instrument for combating the phenomenon of corruption that is widespread in Portugal, which has a very strong expression within public administration. This isn’t just a perception, it’s a certainty,” said the President of the SCJ, who continued: ” We’re aware that cases of corruption have been increasing and, despite the fact that investigations into this type of crime have increased, the results fall a long way behind what is known to be the case.”
Despite admitting to having an “excellent institutional relationship” with the Minister of Justice, he noted that Catarina Sarmento e Castro had not yet managed to implement the necessary changes or paying attention to the proposed amendments.
“He is a person of dialogue; He aims to change the situation and he wants to solve the problems. But I feel that there is something that transcends him and that may be preventing him from carrying out some of the things he would like to,” he noted.