Portugal's Supreme Court cuts former minister Manuel Pinho's sentence to eight years and six months

Court cuts sentence to eight years and six months

On Thursday, 15 October 2026, the Supreme Court of Justice (STJ) reduced the prison sentence of Manuel Pinho, Portugal's former minister of the economy, from 10 years to eight years and six months. Pinho, 71, was convicted in June 2024 by the Lisbon Central Criminal Court of passive corruption, money laundering and tax fraud. The Lisbon Court of Appeal confirmed that sentence in April 2025, and Pinho then took the case to the STJ. The case concerns about 4.9 million euros he allegedly received, including a monthly payment of around 15,000 euros while he served in José Sócrates' first government from 2005 to 2009, allegedly to favour the interests of Banco Espírito Santo (BES) and Grupo Espírito Santo (GES), including real estate projects on the Alentejo coast. The case takes its name from EDP because it grew out of an investigation into the electricity company's so-called excessive rents, although the decisions at issue do not involve EDP.

Why the court reduced the term

In a note to the media, the STJ said it had ruled only on the overall sentence, which it found it had competence to review. The court weighed the long time since the offences were committed, the absence of prior convictions or new criminal conduct, Pinho's current age, his family and social ties, and his departure from public office, which was the context of the crimes. It also cited a reduced need for special prevention. The court's wording was as follows.

Despite the marked gravity of the crimes committed, a more expressive mitigating assessment is justified than the one previously recognised by the lower courts.

The defence disagrees with the STJ's reading of its competence, arguing that it violates the principle of a fair trial. The court's note also confirmed that the sentence was reduced from the term set in the first instance and upheld on appeal.

Defence seeks immediate release

Pinho's lawyers, Ricardo Sá Fernandes and Sandra Aguiar, said in a joint statement that he has been under preventive house arrest for four years and 10 months, which is longer than half of the sentence now fixed. They will ask for his release on Thursday, 15 October, relying on article 215(6) of the Criminal Procedure Code, which caps preventive detention at half the sentence when a first-instance conviction is confirmed on appeal. Sá Fernandes put the point this way.

Manuel Pinho has been under house arrest for four years and 10 months, so the half-sentence limit has been exceeded and he must be restored to liberty immediately.

The lawyers also said they will lodge an appeal with the Constitutional Court, which they said will have suspensive effect. Such appeals stop the convictions from being enforced until the court rules on the challenge. Pinho has been under house arrest since December 2021, and the nearly five years he has spent deprived of liberty will be deducted from the sentence.

Co-defendants and pending steps

Ricardo Salgado, the former BES president, received a sentence of six years and three months, which the Lisbon Court of Appeal also confirmed in April 2025. Pinho's wife, Alexandra Pinho, received a suspended sentence of four years and eight months. In October 2025, the European Court of Human Rights accepted a complaint filed by Manuel and Alexandra Pinho against Portugal, which claimed their right to be presumed innocent and to a fair process had been violated. At trial, both rejected the charges against them. The immediate release request and the Constitutional Court appeal are the next steps in the case.