Cascais Socialist Party demands external audit of municipal contracts

The Socialist Party (PS) in the Portuguese municipality of Cascais will present a motion on Monday urging the city hall to commission an external audit of public contracts awarded to firms linked to former health minister Fernando Costa Freire. The request follows police searches on 2 June that led to the indictment of the president of the Alcabideche parish council on suspicion of corruption, prevarication and economic participation in a business.

According to the motion, two companies, Wall Up and Socidirect, signed 32 contracts with Cascais between January and October 2024, amounting to about €14.8 million. The PS asks that the audit cover the period from 1 January 2017 and that the final report be sent to the municipal assembly, the Public Prosecutor’s Office, the Court of Auditors and the General Inspection of Finance.

Cascais mayor Nuno Piteira Lopes welcomed the call for scrutiny but stressed the need to respect the presumption of innocence, while PS councilor João Ruivo said, “We are not accusing anyone, but we cannot leave doubts about elected officials or employees unanswered.” The police operation was part of a broader investigation by the Public Ministry of Sintra into alleged corruption in the awarding of construction contracts dating back to 2019‑2021.