One of the most recent cases is that of the former mayor of Caminha and former deputy secretary of state to Prime Minister Miguel Alves, who accused the MP of subterfuge, for breaking public procurement rules, when he agreed with businesswoman Manuela Couto to provide of communication advisory services to the municipality.
The ex-president of the municipality of Viana do Castelo and the current Secretary of State for the Sea, José Maria Costa, are under investigation for direct adaptations and public procurement of almost 5.5 million euros, in an investigation without defendants and aimed at on the period between 2009 and October 2021.
“Operação Web” targets the municipalities of Santo Tirso and Barcelos, the Portuguese Institute of Oncology (IPO) in Porto and Manuela Couto’s companies, which are investigating suspicions of corruption, influence and economic participation in business, for “addiction, fraudulent use of public tenders and direct award procedures,” the Justice Police (PJ) stated in a June 2019 statement.
The trial led to the resignation of former mayor of Santo Tirso (Porto) Joaquim Couto, who is suspected of using political influence to pressure mayors and government officials to hire five family businesses.
In addition to Joaquim Couto, the former mayor of the municipality of Barcelos Miguel Costa Gomes, the former president of the IPO of Porto Laranja Pontes and businesswoman Manuela Couto, Joaquim Couto’s wife at the time, are also accused.
The mayor of Matosinhos, Luísa Salgueiro, was recently accused in “Operação Teia”, for hiring Marta Laranja Pontes as her chief of staff, which according to the MP “would have happened because of the personal influence of the main defendants”.
On Thursday, the Republic’s Attorney General announced the establishment of a special investigative process to “dispel doubts” and assess the “disciplinary relevance” of the MP’s actions.
The former president of the municipality of Barcelos, Miguel Costa Gomes, is still charged by the MP in another trial, with 13 defendants, including former vice president of the chamber Armandina Saleiro and former councilors Alexandre Maciel and Domingos Pereira, for direct adjustments on the sidelines of the law, for surveillance services and private security.
Former mayors Orlando Alves and David Teixeira resigned as president and vice president of the Chamber of Montalegre, Vila Real district, after being arrested in “Operação Alquimia”, on suspicion of favoring family and friends in public works contracts , between 2014 and 2022, in more than 20 million euros.
In addition to the main process of “Operação Éter” – which is on trial in Porto – it is expected that the conclusion of the examination of the records resulting from the extraction of the certificate of this process, the “creating and installing the Interactive Stores” of Turismo do Porto e Norte de Portugal, aimed at mayors and former mayors of nearly fifty municipalities in the northern region.
As part of the “secret adjustment operation”, 65 defendants are on trial, including the mayor of Albergaria, António Loureiro, and four former mayors of the municipalities of Oliveira de Azeméis and Estarreja, in the district of Aveiro, who will respond, namely, for 890 crimes of passive corruption, active corruption, embezzlement, abuse of power and influence. Hermínio Loureiro, who was president of the municipality of Oliveira de Azeméis between 2009 and 2016, is another defendant who will stand trial.
Still in the district of Aveiro, the MP this month accused the former Secretary of State for Civil Protection José Artur Neves, the mayor of Arouca Margarida Belém and a local businessman of several economic crimes committed in the procurement and implementation of public works.
The former mayor of Santarém Moita Flores and a civil construction businessman are on trial for corruption and money laundering. The MP says that Moita Flores “received a capital advantage” (300,000 euros) from the businessman who carried out the work on the underground car park in Jardim da Liberdade.
The former president of the municipality of Fundão Manuel Frexes, a businessman and an employee of the municipality are being tried for fraud, economic participation in business, embezzlement and forgery of documents. These are facts that occurred during the mandate between 2007 and 2011, when Manuel Frexes was president of this municipality in the district of Castelo Branco.
On November 8 this year, the PJ carried out searches in the municipal councils of Odivelas and Oeiras and in the Lisbon parish of Avenidas Novas, which revealed that the investigation was aimed at “public contracts carried out by various local authorities”, which could be involved in the practice of various economic crimes.
Still in the capital, the end of the investigation into “Operação Olissipus”, aimed at urban planning, in which former councilor Manuel Salgado is one of the targets, is expected. Crimes such as abuse of power, economic participation in business, corruption, subterfuge, violation of urban rules and influence are investigated.
The MP is also examining the establishment of consultancy contracts between municipal companies in Lisbon, the parish councils of Santa Maria Maior, Misericórdia and São Vicente, and private companies, which have already complied with 11 search warrants in March this year.
The Câmara de Torres Vedras, district of Lisbon, has been examined since May 2021 in the context of three public procurement procedures involving two service providers, a company, a private individual and an association.
Source: DN
