Prosecutor Seeks Trial for All 59 Accused in Lisbon's "Tutti-Frutti" Parish-Council Graft Case
At the final pre-trial hearing, the prosecution argued that all 59 defendants in the Lisbon "Tutti-Frutti" case — including a sitting parish official — should face a full trial over alleged favours to party activists.
Prosecutors have asked a Lisbon court to send all 59 defendants in the so-called "Tutti-Frutti" corruption case to a full trial, in one of the largest local-government graft prosecutions the capital has seen.
The request came during the debate instrutório — the final pre-trial phase at which a judge decides whether charges are strong enough to proceed — which opened on Monday at the Tribunal de Monsanto (Monsanto Court) in Lisbon and is being heard across several sessions because of the sheer number of accused. Public prosecutor Andrea Marques argued that there are sufficient indications to put every one of the defendants before a court.
At its heart, the case concerns alleged favouritism in the award of work and service contracts by Lisbon juntas de freguesia (parish councils), the smallest tier of local administration. Investigators allege that activists and figures linked to the Socialist Party (Partido Socialista, or PS) and the Social Democratic Party (Partido Social Democrata, or PSD) were channelled contracts and benefits, in a scheme the prosecution frames as spanning hundreds of separate offences, including corruption, prevaricação (breach of official duty), money laundering and influence peddling.
The investigation originally produced charges against 60 people when the indictment was unveiled in early 2025. That number fell to 59 after Fernando Braamcamp, a former president of the Areeiro parish council, died earlier this year.
Among those the prosecution wants tried is Luís Newton, a former president of the Estrela parish council, accused of passive corruption and abuse of office. Also named is Vasco Morgado, once head of the Santo António parish council and more recently appointed a director of EGEAC, the Lisbon municipal culture and events company, under the administration of mayor Carlos Moedas. Two former PSD members of parliament, Sérgio Azevedo and Carlos Eduardo Reis, are likewise among the defendants.
The financial stakes extend beyond the criminal charges. Prosecutors are seeking to have 29 of the defendants repay more than €580,000 to the State, money they say flowed improperly through the contested contracts.
Not everyone caught up in the original inquiry ended up charged. Fernando Medina, the former Lisbon mayor who went on to serve as finance minister, was investigated in connection with the affair but did not face charges.
Because the defendants were not required to attend the pre-trial sessions in person, much of this week's argument has unfolded with their lawyers present in their place. The investigating judge will now weigh the prosecution's submissions before ruling on how many of the 59 will actually stand trial — a decision that will determine the scope of a case touching figures across the capital's two largest parties.
For residents, the case is a window into how Lisbon's parish councils — bodies that handle everything from street cleaning to local licensing — award the contracts that keep neighbourhoods running, and how prosecutors say that everyday machinery was bent to political advantage.
