The Banco de Portugal (BdP) confirmed on Thursday that a Police Judicial (PJ) operation is currently underway at its facilities. The operation, known as Pactum, is investigating suspicions of overbilling in the awarding of IT contracts worth 17 million euros.
“Banco de Portugal confirms that a Police Judicial operation is underway at its facilities, and it is fully cooperating,” the institution stated in a communiqué.
What is at issue?
The Police Judicial is conducting a large-scale operation this morning to execute 75 search and seizure warrants in various public agencies over suspicions of overbilling in IT contract awards amounting to 17 million euros.
The searches are taking place in residences, accounting offices, company headquarters, public institutes, and other state services in Greater Lisbon, Porto, and Braga, targeting information related to staff at these services, not “political decision-makers”.
The Pactum operation concerns “conduct related to the procurement of Information Technology services by several public entities and a private entity between the years 2017 and 2025.”
“At the heart of the investigation is a group of individuals who, in a concerted effort and premeditatively, rigged dozens of public and private contracting procedures, with a total global value not less than 17,000,000.00 € (seventeen million euros),” clarified the Police Judicial and the Attorney General’s Office in a joint statement.
The crimes potentially involved include economic participation in business, unlawful access with breach of confidentiality, abuse of power, active and passive corruption, document forgery, computer fraud, subsidy fraud, qualified tax fraud, influence peddling, criminal association, and money laundering.
[News updated at 11:29 AM]
