Portugal's main criminal investigation agency, the judicial police (PJ), said that the 78 searches carried out on Tuesday as part of Operation Maestro target projects co-financed by EU funds, which will have allowed the suspects to make illicit gains of almost €39 million between 2015 and 2023.
In a statement, the PJ explains that "through the 14 projects co-financed by the ERDF [European Regional Development Fund], carried out between 2015 and 2023, the suspects have so far managed to obtain incentive payments totalling at least €38,938,631.46".
A judicial source previously told Lusa that the various suspects include Porto businessman Manuel Serrão and journalist Júlio Magalhães, whom Lusa tried to contact, but without success.
The searches took place in the metropolitan areas of Lisbon and Porto, in the region of Aveiro and Guarda.
"At stake are organised fraud schemes that benefited a number of individuals and companies, damaging the financial interests of the European Union and the Portuguese state, both in terms of funding through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and through the evasion of taxes due," explains the PJ.
According to the PJ, "the 'modus operandi' is based on the creation of complex corporate structures".
"Aiming to assemble contractual justifications for the provision of services and the supply of goods in order to fraudulently raise EU funds in the context of at least 14 operations, most of which were approved under the Operational Programme for Competitiveness and Internationalisation (POCI), carried out since 2015," the investigation believes.
Another judicial source told Lusa that some projects under the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR) are also under investigation.
According to the PJ, the ongoing investigation "also gave rise to strong suspicions of the involvement of officials from public bodies, in breach of their functional duties and reserve, in the streamlining and compliance of procedures related to applications, payment requests and the management of co-financed projects".
Operation Maestro included 78 search warrants, 31 for homes and 47 for non-homes, aimed at "gathering evidence related to strong suspicions of the commission of crimes of fraud in obtaining subsidies, qualified tax fraud, money laundering and abuse of power, which harmed the financial interests of the European Union and the Portuguese state".
The police operation was carried out as part of an enquiry by the Central Department of Investigation and Penal Action (DCIAP), and the investigation is being carried out by the PJ's National Anti-Corruption Unit, with the support of the Public Prosecutor's Technical Advisory Centre.
The PJ also says that the investigation "will continue with the analysis of the evidence now collected and the relevant examinations and expertise, with the aim of fully ascertaining the truth and bringing it to a swift conclusion".
Operation Maestro involved 250 inspectors, 32 experts from the Technological and Computer Expertise Unit and 24 experts from the Financial and Accounting Expertise Unit.
It also had the collaboration of the National Units, the Northern Directorate, the Lisbon and Tagus Valley Directorate, the Centre Directorate, the Setúbal, Braga, Guarda and Aveiro Criminal Investigation Departments, as well as Judicial Magistrates, Public Prosecutor's Offices and specialists.
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