A suspect, who was presented today for the first judicial interrogation at the Criminal Instruction Court (CIC) of Porto, will be required to provide a bail within 30 days through a bank deposit.
In addition to the bail, the doctor is prohibited from leaving the country without authorization, contacting witnesses, interacting with non-diabetic patients to whom she prescribed the medication, dealing with other defendants, visiting the clinic where she provided consultations, and from practicing her profession.
Three more individuals have been charged, including another doctor, a lawyer, and a company.
The doctor had been under investigation since 2020, revealed a criminal investigation coordinator from PJ/Porto on Wednesday during a press conference: “This investigation represents the effort of more than four years of collecting and correlating evidence,” stated Rui Zilhão.
The investigation, which indicates that the doctor had been prescribing this type of medication since 2014, began following a complaint.
An endocrinologist, detained today in Porto for alleged involvement in a fraudulent scheme to prescribe diabetes medication to patients wanting to lose weight, had been under investigation since 2020, revealed a criminal investigation coordinator from PJ/Porto.
Lusa | 18:17 – 19/11/2025
The doctor allegedly defrauded the state of more than three million euros through the payment of fraudulently obtained reimbursement fees, it was highlighted.
The charges involve crimes of qualified fraud and computer forgery, it was emphasized.
According to Rui Zilhão, the investigation has already gathered sufficient evidence to indict that a group of people, as well as a company, devised a scheme to prescribe medications intended primarily for the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus to people wanting to lose weight.
Between 1,000 to 2,000 patients were prescribed this medication by that doctor, it was revealed.
One of the next steps is to determine whether these individuals actually suffer from diabetes.
Rui Zilhão explained that, as far as they could tell, the patients were passing the word that a certain clinic produced excellent weight loss results.
“The mechanism of how the medication was prescribed is still under review,” he stressed.
The criminal investigation coordinator highlighted that the searches, involving 40 PJ inspectors and the Tax Authority, targeted the homes of the defendants, a law office, a health clinic in Porto, and the headquarters of two companies in Albufeira, in the Faro district, and in Funchal, Madeira.
Searches were also conducted in accounting offices in Santa Maria da Feira and Lousada, municipalities in the Porto district.
[Updated news at 18:25]
