Operation Babel. Elad Dror says that the former vice-president of the Gaia City Council never promised him anything

The founder of the Fortera group, Elad Dror, a defendant in the Babel case, said in court this Tuesday that he never had coffee, lunch or dinner with the former vice-president of the Gaia City Council, Patrocínio Azevedo, also a defendant, and that he never promised him anything.

“ I never had coffee, lunch or dinner with the former vice-president of the Vila Nova de Gaia Council , I never had that need”, stated the businessman in the 16th session of the trial of the case related to the alleged violation of norms and instruction of urban licensing processes in the Gaia Council.

Elad Dror is accused of 16 crimes , namely five of active corruption, four of malfeasance, one of economic participation in business, one of money laundering, one of influence peddling and four crimes of receiving or offering undue advantage.

According to the Public Prosecutor's Office (MP), businessmen Elad Dror and Paulo Malafaia “agreed between themselves to develop real estate projects in the city of Vila Nova de Gaia, namely the so-called Skyline/Centro Cultural e de Congressos, Riverside and Hotel Azul”, counting on alleged favoritism from Patrocínio Azevedo who would receive, in exchange, money and watches.

The MP also claims that lawyer João Pedro Lopes, also a defendant in this case, was the bridge between Paulo Malafaia and Elad Dror and Patrocínio Azevedo.

Before the panel of judges, the founder of the Fortera group, who is giving statements in English with the support of a translator, explained that contacts with the local authority , in the Porto district, were always made through the businessman Paulo Malafaia who, when he found out that he was going to invest in Gaia, offered him help with whatever he needed.

When asked about the type of help the businessman could give him, the defendant noted that he noticed that he found it easy to schedule meetings at the council , despite not knowing how, meetings that, if it were the businessman himself, would take one, two or three months to schedule.

“Paulo Malafaia did not specify the help he was going to provide, he just said that he could count on him for anything he needed in the chamber,” he stressed.

Elad Dror also said that Patrocínio Azevedo “was never merely a vice-president, he was the head of urban planning, he was the one who was aware of everything”.

“He was always hands-on, he was aware of everything that was going on, unlike the president,” he added.

Given the importance of Skyline — which involved the construction of a congress center, hotel, parking lot and residential building — Patrocínio Azevedo stressed that he would create a working group, but at no time did he promise anything, he stressed.

Furthermore, the defendant argued that the pressure “was always on the side of the council” , because Skyline was a very important project for the city.