CEME

Jan 7, 2023

January 7, 2023 The Deputy Chief of Staff of the Army (CEME) was constituted an arguido in September, but the case on the disappearance of weapons in the Portuguese expeditionary corps integrated in a UN international mission was archived, the Army announced on Friday. The office of the Chief of Staff of the Army said that the Public Prosecutor’s Office communicated, in December 2022, that an “archive order was issued” in the “inquiry initiated by the disappearance of weapons”. The Army reacted to the news published in the Friday edition of the Nascer do Sol newspaper, where it is mentioned, citing military sources, that Lieutenant General Rui Guerra Pereira was constituted accused by the Public Ministry, on suspicion of covering up, a theft of weapons occurred four years ago within the Portuguese expeditionary force integrated in the UN international peacekeeping mission in the Central African Republic (CAR). In the statement, the Army said that “it corresponds to the truth” that the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Army “was constituted an arguido, on September 12, 2022, within the scope of an investigation process that runs its terms in the 10 .ª Section of the Lisbon DIAP”. The same source adds that “no accusation was brought” against the officer, “he is not indicted for the commission of any crime”. “Another investigation is still under way, following the first one, on which a final order has not yet been issued”, adds the Army in the press release. Also according to the newspaper, the “theft of weapons by the Portuguese Army detachment, a set of 9mm Walther pistols — only used by police and military forces and which reach high prices on the black market –, took place in January 2019 in a field of MINUSCA (United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic)”. The newspaper adds that “the commander of the Portuguese unit, paratrooper lieutenant colonel Óscar Fontoura, reported the theft to Guerra Pereira, in his capacity as commander of the ground forces, but the now deputy CEME asked him to make a report giving account that the Walther had disappeared during clashes with the rebels”, adding that it would be “easier to justify the disappearance of the weapons during an operation that involved exchanges of fire than as a result of theft”. . Nascer do Sol also reports that the Portuguese Army opened an internal investigation process at the time, which ended up being archived without any disciplinary procedure, but that, after receiving an anonymous complaint in 2020, the Military Judiciary Police (PJM) opened an investigation on the case, whose final report, recently completed, proposes that all those involved go to trial. . The newspaper also mentions that the Chief of Staff, General José Nunes da Fonseca, confirmed the existence of the internal investigation process, but said he was unaware of any situation of cover-up. The deputy chief did not make any statements. The deputy CEME was appointed in December 2018 by the then Defense Minister, João Gomes Cravinho, who, according to Nascer do Sol, told the newspaper that he was “completely unaware of the matter”.