Searches in the Lisbon Chamber related to the Tutti Frutti Trial

The raids carried out this Tuesday at the Lisbon Chamber are linked to the Tutti Frutti Trial, an investigation launched in 2017 over alleged favoritism by political leaders towards SDP and PS militants, the Attorney General’s Office confirmed to Luce.

“The conduct of the searches under the process known as ‘Tutti Frutti’ has been confirmed,” the Office of the Attorney General’s Office (GP) said in a written response to questions sent by Lusa.

Also according to PGR, the process is under investigation by the Department of Investigations and Criminal Affairs of Lisbon “and is subject to judicial secrecy.”

On Tuesday afternoon, the Lisbon Chamber had already confirmed to Luza that searches were being carried out in the department for support of municipalities and services.

“We confirm that there are searches, and any clarification on their scope should be provided by the judiciary,” an official source in the chamber said.

CNN has already reported that at stake is the Tutti Frutti Trial, an investigation launched in 2017 and published in 2018, over the alleged benevolence of political leaders towards PSD and PS militants involving Lisbon parish councils and several city councils.

On Tuesday, the channel reported, researchers analyzed documents related to urban processes led by former urban adviser Manuel Salgado during the municipal presidency of Fernando Medina (PS), current finance minister.

In 2018, the Attorney General’s Office indicated that this investigation was investigating alleged offenses of passive corruption, influence peddling, economic involvement in business, and prohibited financing on suspicion of exercising “influence aimed at achieving public contracts, including contracts with individuals.” and other strategic positions.

In October, CNN Portugal reported that there were “more than 500 wiretaps of criminal significance involving top PS and PSD executives”. […]namely for schemes of alleged collusion in central bloc pacts in which some of the suspects are members of the current government, such as Fernando Medina or Duarte Cordeiro. [ministro do Ambiente e ex-vice-presidente da Câmara de Lisboa]”.

At that time, the channel added, the investigation had already identified “suspicious situations in 16 councils, 12 boards and two municipal assemblies” and added nine other investigations, “all on alleged crimes in the Lisbon Chamber.”

The Lisbon Chamber is currently led by the Social Democrat Carlos Moedas, who won the 2021 elections without an absolute majority, removing the PS from power in the municipality.

Manuel Salgado was the capital’s Urban Adviser from 2007 to 2019 under the chairmanship of António Costa (current Prime Minister) and Fernando Medina. In July 2019, he announced his retirement from the portfolio and his departure became effective on October 7 of that year.

Days after leaving office, the council approved the architect’s re-election as chairman of the board of directors of the Municipal City Rehabilitation Company (SRU), from which he resigned in 2021 after becoming a defendant in a construction lawsuit. Hospital CUF Tagus. At that time, he denied his guilt and believed that it would be best to leave.

Last week, the Judicial Police already visited the premises of the municipality in connection with another lawsuit, in which three companies and their legal representatives have already appeared.

In this case, according to CNN, allegations of corruption, economic involvement in business and fraud” in a service appointment signed in 2015 by then-mayor Fernando Medina, who replaced Antonio Costa that year, are being investigated, according to CNN.

Público recalled that, as reported by the newspaper in 2018, he was concerned about the hiring between 2015 and 2016 of PS “history” consultant Joaquim Morão, former mayor in Idanha a Nova and Castelo Branco, to support a technical specialist in management of municipal projects and works.