Amadora mayor is official suspect in probe into alleged PS misconduct

Mayor of the Amadora City Council, Vítor Ferreira, has been named a formal suspect, according to online newspaper Observador, as part of Operation Imergente.

At issue are suspicions of misconduct in office for allegedly failing to comply with public procurement rules.

Vítor Ferreira is said to have used a direct award procedure related to the drafting of a speech for this year’s April 25 ceremony at the municipality, to which PS leader José Luís Carneiro was invited (see image above).

According to Observador, the beneficiary of the €2,200 contract was Duarte Moral, the PS communications director who is at the centre of this probe, but who has, for now, retained his position within the party machine.

With Observador’s news, Vítor Ferreira becomes the 8th publicly acknowledged suspect in Operation Imergente, which caused a major ‘stir’ on May 28, particularly as it involved searches of the PS party’s national headquarters in Lisbon.

Main suspects

The five main suspects all have links to the Socialist Party. Among them are Miguel Coelho, a current adviser to José Luís Carneiro and former parish council president of Lisbon’s Santa Maria Maior.

Coelho has been a prominent figure in Lisbon politics over recent decades. He was the 12 years Santa Maria Maior Parish Council president, between 2013 and 2025. A member of the Socialist Party since 1976, he is described as knowing the party better than most. Coelho has served as a member of Parliament, a member of the Municipal Assembly, a national party official, and president of the Lisbon Municipal Political Commission for 14 years.

As a result of Imergente, Coelho is one of the Public Prosecutor’s main suspects for allegedly contracting 19 companies linked to Mafra and the Socialist Party without recourse to public procurement procedures.

Duarte Moral and Rute Reimão

Duarte Moral, another key figure in this inquiry, is José Luís Carneiro’s press adviser and a partner in Diálogo Emergente, one of the companies under investigation for services awarded by the Santa Maria Maior Parish Council and the Socialist Party branch in Mafra.

His wife, Rute Reimão, was also arrested. Since 2014, she has served as a cultural adviser at the Santa Maria Maior Parish Council.

Rui Pedro Nascimento

A partner of Duarte Moral in Diálogo Emergente, Nascimento has held advisory roles within the Socialist Party’s parliamentary group. In 2021, he was elected as a municipal deputy in Oeiras, a position he resigned from in 2023.

Sérgio Santos

Another suspect is Sérgio Santos, who served as president of the Socialist Party’s Mafra branch, a councillor in Mafra, and a member of the Board of Directors of Mafra’s Municipal Water and Sanitation Services (SMAS).

Santos is also alleged to have been hired by the Santa Maria Maior Parish Council to serve as director of its purchasing department.

At issue in Imergente is a perceived web of ‘influences’ that allegedly sought to further the interests of socialist companies and members of the Socialist Party, discounting checks and balances that should always be in place in local government.

Observador’s article has added that Duarte Moral, although technically still the PS party’s communications director, is likely to hear that his services are no longer required at some point next week.

Source: SIC Notícias/ Observador