The Secretary of Defense considered this Thursday that the indictment brought by the Department of State against 73 defendants in the DGRDN work award process is the work of justice.
“Justice is working and we are seeing the results of this process, and therefore we must remain calm in the sense that what is being done is being done,” Helena Carreiras said in response to a question from journalists.
The Minister spoke on the sidelines of the visit with the Minister of the Interior in Serra do Montejunto, in Cadaval, in the Lisbon area.
“It’s not for me to think, it’s not for me to judge, it’s certainly not for me to speculate. I must act to ensure that these types of situations do not recur in the present and should not recur in the future,” he added.
In this sense, he recalled, he turned to the Accounts Chamber with a request for audits and checks.
“We are also making efforts to expand educational institutions in order to prevent and bring to the attention of the population these issues and the whole range of actions that may be necessary depending on the outcome of the trial,” he recalled.
The Department of State (DG) charged 73 defendants in the DGRDN award process, including former Director Alberto Coelho, with passive corruption, money laundering, embezzlement and forgery.
The indictment relating to the “Perfect Storm” process, which Lusa had access to, also alleges that Alberto Coelho was sentenced to pay more than 86 thousand euros to the state, which corresponds to what they consider illegal benefits.
In addition to Alberto Coelho, the MP also accused Paulo Morais Branco, former financial director of DGRDN, of various crimes of passive corruption, money laundering and forgery of documents and demanded payment of 415 thousand euros. The same crimes are attributed to Francisco Marquez, the former director of the infrastructure and heritage service, who is also being asked to pay almost 272,000 euros.
As part of this investigation, 43 people and 30 companies were accused of public procurement procedures for services and work contracts in which the Directorate General of National Defense Resources intervened as a customer, including the costs of re-qualifying the former Bethlehem military hospital.
According to a memo from the Lisbon Department of Investigations and Criminal Affairs (DIAP), “in these judgments, defendants who performed public functions used such functions to obtain undue advantages for themselves or third parties. Benefits that were subsequently hidden by the respective beneficiaries.
The “perfect storm” process had already taken its toll on the government when Defense Minister Marco Capitan Ferreira resigned just hours after it became known that he was accused of corruption and corruption. economic participation in business related to a consultancy contract signed in 2019 with DGRDN, which at the time was managed by Alberto Coelho.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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