The Public Prosecutor (MP) has charged administrators and an engineer from the Barcelos-based contractor ABB with allegedly trying to create a “favourable climate” in order to succeed in current and future contracts.
According to the MP, they were aware of the “decisive” role played by the Works Director at the Gaia/Espinho Local Health Unit in the delivery of building contracts. With “the aim of encouraging him to favour ABB’s interests”, the defendants allegedly decided to hand him 7500 euros in a Perfumes & Companhia carrier bag.
The hospital official refused the money and passed it to the management team. Faced with what the MP describes as an “unexpected rejection”, two of the defendants are said to have attempted to cover up the handover by staging a theft, allegedly with the assistance of a National Republican Guard (GNR) officer.
These are the conclusions reached by the MP, which has indicted seven defendants for the offences of receiving an improper advantage, simulation of a crime, abuse of power and computer fraud.
Background: the hospital role and ABB’s alleged objective
As set out in the indictment, which JN has seen, the events date back to December 2020. At the time, Nuno Carvalho was serving as Director of the Works and Installations Service at the Gaia/Espinho Hospital Centre, with responsibilities for preparing, monitoring and supervising public procurement procedures and overseeing the execution of works contracts.
The MP maintains that ABB’s chairman, Gaspar Borges, the administrators Maria Borges, José Gonçalves and Paulo Ferreira, and the engineer Daniel Gonçalves agreed to deliver 7500 euros to the hospital official to create “a favourable climate of closeness, sympathy and receptiveness” regarding the company’s existing and future contracts.
“Take it, keep it”
The case, based on an investigation by the Porto branch of the Judicial Police (PJ), states that the money originated from an advance of 8000 euros which Daniel Gonçalves requested from the company’s petty cash fund, purportedly for site expenses. After internal approval, the amount was withdrawn and, according to prosecutor Celso Rocha, 7500 euros were placed in an envelope and put inside a Perfumes & Companhia bag.
The bag was allegedly handed to the director in the hospital car park on 14 December 2020. “Take it, keep it”, he was reportedly told. The hospital official initially believed it was a Christmas gift and only discovered the following day that it contained cash.
The MP further says the public official immediately contacted Daniel Gonçalves and Gaspar Borges to return the money. He then handed the bag to a member of the hospital unit’s board of directors and asked to be recused from involvement in current and future procedures involving ABB.
Alleged cover-up after the refusal
The indictment adds that, after the intended recipient refused the money, Gaspar Borges and Daniel Gonçalves allegedly devised an alternative account to explain why the money had left the company, by fabricating the disappearance of the amount.
To that end, Daniel Gonçalves filed a theft report with the GNR, allegedly with the collaboration of an officer who is said to have digitally altered the date on the incident report to make the narrative appear credible.
JN asked ABB for comment on the matter but received no reply.
MP seeks forfeiture of the amount to the State
The MP has charged Daniel Gonçalves, Gaspar Borges, Maria Borges, José Gonçalves and Paulo Ferreira with an aggravated offence of receiving an improper advantage. The first two also face a charge of simulation of a crime.
Gaspar Borges, Daniel Gonçalves and the GNR officer Victor Fernandes have additionally been charged with abuse of power and aggravated computer fraud. The company Alexandre Barbosa Borges S.A. has also been indicted. The MP has applied for the seized amount to be forfeited to the State.
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