The Lisbon Public Prosecutor’s Office has opened an investigation into a corruption scandal involving politicians from two of Portugal’s largest parliamentary groups: the Socialists (PS) and the Social Democrats (PSD); among the suspects are at least two members of the government, CNN Portugal TV reported on Saturday.
According to the station, the prosecutor’s office has 500 phone call records revealing a pattern of corruption at the top of the government. These are the involvement of politicians and senior civil servants in corruption, abuse of power in the exercise of public functions and illegal economic practices.
CNN Portugal findings show that the suspects include, among others, Finance Minister Fernando Medina and the head of the environment department, Duarte Cordeiro. The station does not rule out that other people from the office of Social Democrat Antonio Costa could also be included in the investigation.
According to investigators’ findings so far, the practice is linked to the abuse of high-ranking local government officials, particularly in Lisbon City Hall, whose mayor in 2015-2021 was the current finance minister, Medina. (PORRIDGE)
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