The Judicial Police have arrested the former president of Fernave, a subsidiary of national railway company Comboios de Portugal, on suspicion of embezzlement and abuse of power in dealings with Angola.
“The Judicial Police, through the National Anti-Corruption Unit, as part of an investigation led by the Lisbon prosecutor, stopped at Lisbon Airport the former president a public transport company for crimes of embezzlement and abuse of power in a cooperation with Angola," read a police statement.
The detainee, Rui Lucena Marques, 43, already was the subject of disciplinary proceedings.
During the operation, undertaken by the National Unit for Combating Corruption, searches were carried out and materials were seized related to the criminal activity under investigation.
Marques was whisked off to court and had to pay a deposit of €37,500 to be allowed out on bail. He is not allowed out of the country and has had to hand over his passport.
Fernave is subsidiary of CP which focuses on the training of technical staff and the suspicion is that Marques benefited financially from training contracts for Angolan drivers. The sum of €100,000 is alleged to have been syphoned off with searches continuing into other suspicious contracts.
The police say that there will be more people involved in the suspect training activities, both in Portugal and in Angola, who are still being investigated.
