A GNR corporal from Mirandela, in the district of Bragança, was arrested by the Judiciary Police (PJ) on suspicion of defrauding the state of thousands of euros by keeping the cash from fines imposed on drivers.
Ricardo Alves was detained on Thursday and remanded in custody the following day.
According to a press release, the officer is suspected of pressuring motorists to pay fines in cash, money he allegedly kept for himself.
One of the victims told journalists that the GNR officer fined him in an urban area under PSP jurisdiction and then took him to a cash machine to withdraw the money.
“He fined me €500, took my driving licence and immediately said I had to pay in cash,” said Eugénio Manuel.
“I told him I didn’t have that amount on me, only a bank card, but he said that wouldn’t do and that I’d have to withdraw it from an ATM,” he recalled.
“He drove me there in the GNR jeep. But since the machine only allowed me to withdraw €400, he told me to bring the remaining €100 the next day,” he continued. “When I arrived the following day, he was already waiting for me. We went into an office, I handed him the €100, and he gave me a slip of paper,” the driver told press.
According to authorities, the 45-year-old officer is suspected of “forging several administrative offence reports and pocketing money corresponding to fines paid by offenders.”
He is now strongly suspected of crimes of embezzlement, document forgery and computer fraud.
As a member of the military police, the suspect remains under the authority of the GNR. The Vila Flor District Court has ruled that he will await trial in preventive custody and will be brought before a judge for an initial interrogation to determine the coercive measures to be applied.
