An official from a Social Security Centre in Lisbon has been arrested by judicial police on Tuesday on suspicion of accepting bribes and computer fraud.
The un-named man was able to alter computer records to annul company debts and to allocate false social benefits and other payments, for which he received illicit payments.
By fixing the system to the advantage of individuals and companies, especially certain builders, social security debts seem mysteriously to have vanished. A second person involved in the scheme and arrested is said to be a relation of the Social Security department head..
During the police operation, house searches were conducted and arrests made in an operation involving the National Anti-Corruption Unit led by the Department of Investigation and Penal Action in Lisbon.
In a statement, the department of Social Security reported that the investigation was triggered by it asking the police to investigate suspicious records and that the subsequent arrests were the result of its close collaboration with the polcie.
"The investigation originated from an internal flagging of irregularities and a subsequent audit and investigation ended with a request to the judicial authorities," read today’s statement.
The Judicial Police also have been on the case in Lisbon and Oporto as 22 arrests were made relating to suspected fraud and the embezzlement of grants from two European Community programmes totalling a whopping €25 million.
The police reported today that officers had conducted searches of homes, companies and accountants’ offices during raids in Greater Lisbon, Greater Oporto, the north-eastern and the central regions using over 50 personnel.
The operation obtained evidence related to those fraudulently obtaining Community funding provided by the Rural Development Programme (PRODER) and Operational Human Potential (POPH), involving funding to the tune of €23.6 million and €1.2 million respectively.
The investigation was conducted by the National Unit for Combating Corruption as part of an investigation led by the Central Department of Investigation and Penal Action.
