As part of a Judicial Police investigation, the Director and a Head of Department at Social Security offices, a lawyer and two accountants have been arrested and premises raided as part of an anti-corruption operation.
The Department of Investigation and Prosecution (DIAP) operation centred on Lisbon and the police and Attorney General's Office confirmed that the searches had taken place at two accounting firms, offices, garages and corporate headquarters, "in the context of an investigation under the DIAP Lisbon for alleged corruption."
Last week a prosecutor at the Attorney General’s spoke of "a network that uses the state apparatus" for corrupt activities and that prosecutors are doing their part against setups that take advantage of the state apparatus for illegal and corrupt practices.
The Social Security officials have been arrested on suspicion of supplying documents to businessmen stating that 'no money is owed to the Department of Social Security.'
These key documents have enabled companies to submit tenders for public works and the allegation is that businessmen paid €2,500 to €5,000 a pop to the director and the head of department of the Social Security service in Lisbon.
The operation is being run by the National Anti-Corruption Unit of the Judicial Police, under the guidance of DIAP Lisbon, and is another high profile case as the state’s independent police and judicial authorities continue successfully to nibble away at the corruption that has characterised much of Portugal’s public services for decades.
Should these allegation be proved correct, tenders for past and current work will have to be examined to check its validity due to this scam that will render illegal hundreds of public contracts.
