The 90-year-old Brazilian woman is charged with the crimes along with six other defendants. According to the public prosecution’s charges, the defendants planned to sell a vacant property worth €500,000 that was not theirs, and to benefit from the income.
The gang allegedly forged papers to deceive the Land Registry Office and their potential clients by claiming to be the owners of the apartment. The crime also allegedly involved forging reports from “general meetings” of a trade association that never existed and opening bank accounts in the name of their fake trade partnership to deal with money from the sales.
In the first court session held in Lisbon on Monday, the 90-year-old said she had been manipulated by the other defendants and that she did not realise that what they had asked her to do was illegal. She blames all the other defendants for the crimes, including her own niece.
The woman’s testimony took more than three hours and her confused and incoherent speech made the judges impatient and uncertain about her innocence. “My niece was the one who called all the shots. She kept all the money and only gave me €500,” the woman said.
The defendants managed to sell the apartment in October 2016 for €400,000. They allegedly went on a shopping spree with the proceeds, including buying jewellery worth €5,000.
The woman was arrested by the Portuguese judiciary police and has been held on remand in Tires, Lisbon, since November 2016.
The next court session is scheduled for 11 December at 4p.m. at the Lisbon Justice Campus.