The corruption case that led to the fall of the Regional Government of Madeira in 2024 has a team of inspectors from the Judiciary Police (PJ) dedicated exclusively to the three ongoing investigations, the Public Prosecutor’s Office (MP) announced.
According to information provided to Lusa by the Attorney General’s Office (PGR), “in order to ensure greater speed in the investigations in question, an agreement was reached between the DCIAP [Central Department of Investigation and Criminal Action] and the Judiciary Police to establish a team of Judiciary Police inspectors dedicated exclusively to the ‘Madeira’ region, which has already been implemented.”
The most recent decision on this case was made by the Supreme Court of Justice (STJ) on December 16, when a ruling reversed the Lisbon Court of Appeal’s decision on the coercive measures against the defendants Pedro Calado, former mayor of Funchal, and businessman Avelino Farinha, who were once again subject only to terms of identity and residence, the least restrictive coercive measure, and had their passports, seized by order of the Court of Appeal, recovered.
“The judges understood that the facts considered by the Lisbon Court of Appeal were deemed, when presented by the Public Prosecutor’s Office in connection with the first interrogation, as not substantiated,” according to the ruling initially reported by the Now channel.
Regarding this decision, the Attorney General’s Office told Lusa that “all defendants are awaiting the outcome of the investigations, subject only to the requirement to provide proof of identity and residence.”
“This ruling by the Supreme Court of Justice declared the ruling of the Lisbon Court of Appeal null and void and, consequently, ordered the issuance of a new ruling by this court to remedy the aforementioned nullities, which has not yet happened,” added the Attorney General’s Office.
On January 24, 2024, the country learned of a massive police operation that transported 140 PJ (Judicial Police) inspectors and 10 forensic experts from the mainland to Madeira on an Air Force plane, where they were joined by dozens of local PJ inspectors, to carry out hundreds of searches.
The operation resulted in three arrests: the mayor of Funchal, Pedro Calado, who resigned from his post days later, and two Madeiran businessmen from the civil construction sector, Avelino Farinha, leader of the AFA construction group, and Custódio Correia, the main shareholder of the Socicorreia group.
The process would eventually include as a fourth defendant the president of the Regional Government of Madeira himself, Miguel Albuquerque, who was not detained due to the parliamentary immunity conferred by his office.
The operation resulted in three investigations, still ongoing with no known progress, in which “facts that could, in abstract, constitute the crimes of attacking the rule of law (only in one of the cases), prevarication, undue receipt of advantage, passive corruption, active corruption, economic participation in business, abuse of power and influence peddling” are being investigated, according to the Public Prosecutor’s Office.
One of the investigations “looks into suspicions of undue favoritism towards large economic groups in the region within the scope of public procurement by the Regional Government of Madeira, involving, in certain situations, the municipality of Funchal.”
A second inquiry focuses on “suspicions of favoritism towards two economic groups in the Autonomous Region of Madeira (RAM) and the connection of the Vice-President of the Regional Government of Madeira, later Mayor of Funchal [Pedro Calado], to one of these groups, within the context of public procurement with RAM and the municipality of Funchal.”
“The third investigation looks into suspicions of the fictitious use of extrajudicial transactions during administrative actions brought by the Regional Government of Madeira against business groups in the region, enabling the undue payment of sums to those groups, in what is suspected to be a fictitious appearance of litigation between the parties; and the awarding of contracts by the Regional Government of Madeira in ways that defy decisions of the Court of Auditors,” the Attorney General’s Office further specifies.
Court documents accessed by Lusa during the operation in Madeira revealed that Miguel Albuquerque is specifically suspected of corruption, malfeasance, abuse of power, and attacks against the rule of law, with allegations including attempts to restrict press freedom, particularly news detrimental to the image of the Regional Government.
Among the suspicions of the Public Prosecutor’s Office is an alleged collusion between the Regional Government (PSD/CDS-PP), Pedro Calado and members of the Pestana hotel group, namely the company Pestana CR7, who are supposedly involved “in a scheme to favor the interests and real estate deals of that group within the scope of the construction of the Praia Formosa real estate project”.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office points to a “privileged relationship, characterized by great proximity and informality” between Miguel Albuquerque, Pedro Calado, and Avelino Farinha. The Public Prosecutor’s Office adds that, within this relationship, Pedro Calado “acted, and still acts, as a common denominator with the other suspects,” acting as an “intermediary, in order to safeguard the interests of the AFA group with the Regional Government and the municipality of Funchal.”
The Public Prosecutor’s Office even indicates that there were “interferences” by Miguel Albuquerque in matters within the municipal sphere, as well as positions taken by Pedro Calado on issues of a regional nature, namely on topics involving the interests of a group of businessmen from Madeira.
Following this investigation and the indictment of the president of the Madeira Regional Government, PAN – the party with which PSD/Madeira had a parliamentary support agreement – withdrew its political confidence in Miguel Albuquerque, who resigned from his post, leading to the fall of the Regional Government and early elections on May 26, 2024, which Miguel Albuquerque would win again, but without an absolute majority.
A motion of censure from Chega would lead to the further downfall of the regional executive, a coalition between the PSD and the CDS/PP, resulting in new elections in March 2025, which would again be won by Albuquerque.