Upon reading the sentence, in which the 50-year-old defendant was not present, the judge found that the defendant had committed two crimes of computer forgery, sentencing him to one year and six months for each of them, and a crime of qualified fraud in the attempted form, for which he was sentenced to one year in prison, having applied the single sentence of three years in prison, suspended for the same period of time.

Speaking to journalists at the end of the hearing, the defendant's lawyer, Carolina Guedes, considered the sentence imposed "proportionate to the defendant's full confession" and added that she will not appeal this decision.

“I will not appeal. When the accused fully confesses the facts, he is prepared for this sentence”, said the lawyer.

Between March 2017 and July 2018, on three separate occasions, the defendant put in place a plan to obtain employment in public and private companies and in a local authority, without meeting the requirements for this purpose, each time in order to obtain a salary higher than €5,100.

Fake CV

The ploy involved drawing up a curriculum vitae with false data regarding his academic qualifications and professional experience and the use of e-mail addresses, created by him, as if he were the Minister of Economy.

In addition, the defendant, "or someone under his command", pretended to be the minister himself, contacted decision-makers from the entities where he wanted a job by telephone, "to whom he presented the job seeker as being a relative of the Prime Minister, before sending over the fake CV.

However, the defendant did not receive any response from the public entities he contacted and, instead, was reported to the authorities by the Mayor of Matosinhos, Luísa Salgueiro.