Football Leaks founder Rui Pinto to stay in witness protection after Portugal U-turn

Rui Pinto, the founder of Football Leaks, will stay in witness protection in Portugal after officials suspended a plan to remove him.

He was due out on Saturday 10 October. Portugal's Ministry of Justice said that decision has been reversed for now, because he was not properly told why it was made or given a fair chance to challenge it, according to the BBC.

Witness protection here means close police protection for someone thought to be at risk after helping the authorities. Pinto joined the programme in 2020 after agreeing to cooperate and share material gathered through Football Leaks.

His name will mean little to casual fans. His files changed football. In 2018 he passed documents to German magazine Der Spiegel that were later used to examine Manchester City's finances and alleged breaches of financial fair play, the rules designed to stop clubs spending far beyond what they earn.

The latest twist is procedural. Pinto will now get 10 days to respond to a risk assessment by Portugal's special security programmes commission, which judged the threat to his safety to be low.

That assessment was reached in July. Pinto was not informed until this week, a gap of 83 days reported by The Guardian. His lawyers have argued that losing protection would leave him at heightened risk, a concern first reported by Reuters.

Pinto's own legal position in Portugal is mixed. He was convicted of offences including illegal access to data and attempted extortion and given a four-year suspended sentence, which means he avoids prison unless he reoffends. He was separately acquitted of 241 counts of illegally accessing email accounts linked to Portuguese football bodies, including Benfica.

The protection row follows a major ruling in England. Manchester City were found guilty of all charges relating to breaches of the Premier League's financial regulations between the 2009-10 and 2017-18 seasons. The club has appealed.

For fans, this means two stories keep running side by side. One is about a title-winning club fighting a verdict. The other is about a 37-year-old source who says he acted to expose corruption and now lives under guard because of it.