Former football referee Antonio Berdigao da Silva asserted on Wednesday in court that he had been “persecuted” and “humiliated” after he was declared one of the professionals whose Social Security data had been improperly accessed and shared online. The facts will be incorporated into the e-Toupeira process, which is currently being judged by the Lisbon Court.
The subject of the controversy is, according to the Public Ministry (MP), the alleged bribery by the then legal counsel of SAD do Benfica, Paulo Gonçalves, of two court officials so that they could spy, in 2017 and 2018, on various operations, some of which are in secret justice. It is said that the alleged performances were tickets to the Red Games and the Eagle jersey.
“I had a member of my family who was fired because the bosses were from Benfica,” assured, when testifying as a victim, Berdigao da Silva, who left arbitration in 2005. Between August 2017 and September 2019, he worked as an arbitration analyst at Porto Canal but this Wednesday denied that The insults are due to that task.
The former assistant football judge was, inter alia, accused of bribing referees and players, and asserted that he was the target of a false and anonymous report.
“I had had [no Facebook] Conversations with Benfica supporters, civilized, about the opinions that have come out in Porto Canal. “It was never a reason to deal with something like this,” said Berdigao da Silva. He added that the insults and threats only stopped, after Benfica’s grief was cleared of any crime in the process.
Paulo Gonçalves and court officials – Jose Augusto Silva and Julio Loreiro – are responsible, among other crimes, for corruption and poor access. So far only Julio Loreiro wanted to speak at the trial: he denied any favoritism.