The President of the Parish Council of Estrela, Luís Newton, withdrew a loan of 10,000 euros from the municipal body to pay for his legal representation in the Tutti Frutti case, where he faces charges of corruption, misconduct, money laundering, and influence peddling.
In reports, it was detailed that the former Social Democratic Party (PSD) deputy accessed the funds last year, with the executive’s approval, and returned it in April this year after being alerted to the illegality by the municipal body’s accounts auditor.
Further information revealed that Luís Newton sought another loan to meet his lawyer’s fees in the Tutti Frutti case.
After years of investigation, the Public Prosecutor’s Office pressed charges against 60 defendants, including mayors, officials, and businessmen, for crimes of corruption, misconduct, money laundering, and influence peddling, in February.
The process involves 60 defendants accused of 463 crimes, related to suspicions of passive corruption, influence peddling, economic participation in business, and prohibited financing.
Cátia Carmo | 10:09 – 08/02/2025
The Tutti Frutti investigation, ongoing since 2018, explored alleged schemes of a central bloc of interests between the Socialist Party (PS) and PSD to negotiate political positions in parishes and municipalities of Lisbon through public service contracts, with suspicions of passive corruption, influence peddling, and illegal financing practices.
This alleged web of interests involved the Lisbon City Council (CML) and sparked searches across various locations, including CML services and the Parish Councils of Santo António, Estrela, and Areeiro.
Luís Newton, elected as a representative in the legislative elections on March 10 for the Lisbon district, suspended his mandate in the Assembly of the Republic but remained as President of the Parish Council of Estrela.
Remember the ‘fruit salad’
The Public Prosecutor’s charge, accessed by Lusa, indicated that the President of Estrela’s Parish Council “triggered, led, and completed” illegal proceedings that resulted in service acquisitions from companies managed by PSD deputy Carlos Eduardo Reis and in hiring friends and associates of former deputy Sérgio Azevedo, including the latter’s mother.
In 2013, Sérgio Azevedo requested that Luís Newton hire his mother as a service provider for the Council, with a high-level technical category compensation that would maintain her lifestyle.
From late 2013 to 2018, the former deputy’s mother, hired for customer service, earned over 114,000 euros (approximately 1,600 euros per month).
According to the Public Prosecutor, a version of the contract was published, albeit unsigned, on the Base Portal only in 2018. The hiring “did not aim at meeting the Council’s needs” and the remuneration “was not compatible with the functions performed, corresponding to more than triple the remuneration of other Council staff performing similar tasks.”
The charges detailed other business agreements between these defendants, such as the procurement by the Estrela Council of workshops in arts and sports or the acquisition of numerous laptops, software, or TVs, with Luís Newton and Sérgio Azevedo allegedly receiving “property concessions” from the contracted companies.
Presidents of four Lisbon Parish Councils accused of dealing in public office positions
