Portugal’s Polícia Judiciária (PJ) has arrested eight individuals on suspicions of active and passive corruption, document forgery, and abuse of power within the wine sector, specifically targeting the Comissão de Viticultura da Região dos Vinhos Verdes (CVRVV).
In a statement to the press, the authorities announced the execution of Operation “Puro Verde” in the northern region of the country. The operation included 21 searches, both residential and non-residential, encompassing the CVRVV headquarters.
“The detainees consist of four members from the CVRVV’s Inspection and Control Division and four entrepreneurs in the wine production and distribution sector,” stated the official release. In total, 17 individuals and corporate entities have been named as defendants in connection with this operation, which also led to the seizure of “goods in kind and cash.”
Investigation commenced following an August complaint this year concerning an alleged collusion scheme between Commission employees and wine industry entrepreneurs, designed to benefit the latter, notably by neglecting the duties of monitoring the origin and transit of grapes and their storage in wineries and producers during the 2025 harvest.”
CVRVV is responsible for controlling the production, trade, and certification of wine products entitled to “Designation of Origin (DO) and Geographical Indication (IG) as well as companies related to wine production and marketing.”
Through the purported scheme, PJ highlighted the risk posed to the wine quality certification process with DO status, which verifies the origin, grape varieties used, viniculture treatments, winemaking, and aging processes that define wines of a particular DO and distinguish them from others.
The ultimate aim, the statement clarified, “was to advantage certain economic operators through the provision and acceptance of benefits, in goods or cash.”
The practices in this alleged scheme, PJ further noted, were “complex and extremely difficult to detect”, despite the CVRVV’s leadership efforts and special oversight activities by both the National Republican Guard (GNR) and the Food and Economic Safety Authority (ASAE).
The investigation, led by the North Directorate of the PJ, sought “to detect and gather evidence on the mentioned scheme, verify breaches of certification rules, and address obstruction of increased oversight.”
Those arrested in Operation “Puro Verde” are set to appear before the competent judiciary authority, the Porto Criminal Instruction Court, for initial interrogation, where appropriate coercive measures will be imposed.
