At long last the blatant thievery and corruption suspected for years at the government’s department of Infrastructure and Equipment (DGIE) has led to its former director-general being arrested and charged with receiving kick-backs from contractors.
State prosecutors suspect João Alberto Correia of running a self-enrichment scheme that may have netted him upwards of €1 million at the taxpayers’ expense.
Correia has been charged with 32 counts of accepting bribes.
The prosecution believes that Correia, who also is a former head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, led a scheme intended to "benefit businesses, entrepreneurs, architects and designers belonging to his circle of friends and with whom he maintained a friendly relationship, exchanging favours over the granting of public works contracts issued by the DGIE."
João Correia, with the collaboration of others arrested today including Albino Rodrigues and Luiza Sá Gomes, directly awarded construction contracts worth €5.9 million to those on their friends list, avoiding the rules which regulate public procurement to aid transparency and free competition.
One of the businessmen involved in the illicit scheme was Henrique Oliveira, who with João Correia is a Mason in the Grand Orient Lusitano.
Oliveira’s companies benefitted from dozens of direct contracts issued by João Correia who then received a third of the value of these contracts as a kick-back.
Henrique Oliveira therefore has been charged with 27 counts of bribery and money laundering including direct payments of €60,000 to Correia.