Duarte Lima has been jailed and, last Friday, started his six-year sentence for fraud in the Homeland case when he relieved BPN of €17.8 million.
Discounting the time spent in pre-trial detention, Lima will serve three and a half years in prison but could be out on parole in as little as six months.
In Brazil, Duarte Lima has been accused of the 2009 murder of Rosalina Ribeiro, the companion of the late Portuguese millionaire, Lúcio Tomé Feteira, so also has that trial to look forward to.
Domingos Duarte Lima, 64, was first sentenced in November 2014 to 10 years in jail for scamming BPN over a land deal in Oeiras involving the construction of the new Portuguese Oncology Institute.
Lima, a lawyer, later filed at the Court of Appeal of Lisbon, which, in April 2016, reduced his sentence to six years' imprisonment.
Duarte Lima later filed several more appeals and complaints to the Supreme Court of Justice and to the Constitutional Court - none of which were successful.
The PSD's former parliamentary leader was detained in November 2011 and was put under house arrest until April 2014, time that will be deducted from the six-year sentence.
Comments
I think this is explained: "Discounting the time spent in pre-trial detention, Lima will serve three and a half years in prison but could be out on parole in as little as six months."
Hence 'could be' means it's the earliest he can be released.
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One could apply "could be" to any situation, doesn't mean it is going to happen, makes good a headline though .....
Understandably not shared yet in Portugal is a 'culture of integrity and impartiality' !