🇵🇹 Portugal news, in English, every morning. Free. Subscribe

The Portugal Brief

Home
Politics
Economy
Guides
About

Sign in Subscribe

Justice

Luis Neves, Portugal's Interior Minister and former head of the Judicial Police, speaks at a podium before the Portuguese flag and the Policia Judiciaria emblem

Prosecutors Open a Criminal Inquiry Into Interior Minister Luis Neves Over a Missing Drug-Case Trailer

Prosecutors and the Judicial Police have opened an inquiry touching Interior Minister Luis Neves over a trailer seized in a record cocaine case that vanished from an impound and resurfaced at a contractor's yard. Neves says he welcomes the probe and denies wrongdoing.

The Portugal Brief 22 Jul 2026

The Campus de Justica de Lisboa courthouse complex in Parque das Nacoes, Lisbon, Portugal

A Lisbon Court Acquits Ricardo Salgado and Seven Others in the Banco do Brasil Bribery Case

The Central Criminal Court of Lisbon has acquitted former Banco Espirito Santo chief Ricardo Salgado and seven co-defendants of paying bribes to secure BES financing, finding no evidence to sustain the charges. Prosecutors had alleged roughly $1.8 million was routed to a Banco do Brasil vice-preside

The Portugal Brief 20 Jul 2026

The Cascais coastline in Portugal, with a small sandy cove, rocky foreshore and whitewashed seafront buildings under a blue sky

Prosecutors Move to Halt and Demolish a Near-Finished Hilton Development on the Cascais Coast

The Public Prosecutor's Office wants a court to suspend an almost-finished Hilton hotel and 120 apartments on the Cascais coast, annul the licences and, if needed, demolish the buildings — over a €313,000 sale of protected seafront land that names Infrastructure Minister Miguel Pinto Luz.

The Portugal Brief 19 Jul 2026

The sculpted concrete facade of the Palacio da Justica courthouse in Lisbon

European Prosecutors Charge 15 in a €3.5 Million Scheme to Rig Recovery-Funded IT Contracts

The European Public Prosecutor's Office has charged 15 defendants — 12 people and three companies — in 'Operation Nexus,' an alleged scheme to rig PRR-funded IT tenders at a public university, costing the EU over €3.5 million. Two are in preventive detention.

The Portugal Brief 15 Jul 2026

The sculpted concrete facade of the Palacio da Justica courthouse in Lisbon

Prosecutors Seek to Remove Two Valongo Mayors From Office Over a Landfill Road Ban

Prosecutors have asked the Valongo court to convict the town's current and former mayors of abuse of power and strip them of office over a 2020 truck ban that choked access to the Sobrado landfill, costing operators over €1.5 million. A verdict is due 10 September.

The Portugal Brief 14 Jul 2026

The ornate gilded altar of the Sao Mamede church in Lisbon decorated with white flowers

Lisbon's Appeal Court Clears the 'Iron Priest' of Sexual Coercion

The Lisbon Court of Appeal has acquitted Father Ismael Teixeira, the priest known as the 'iron priest,' of sexual coercion against a former São Mamede parish employee, overturning a three-and-a-half-year suspended sentence and dismissing the related civil claim.

The Portugal Brief 14 Jul 2026

The Palácio Palmela in Lisbon, headquarters of the Procuradoria-Geral da República, Portugal's public prosecutor's office, with the office name carved on its boundary wall

Public Prosecutors Stage a Two-Day National Strike Over Understaffing, Slowing Courts Nationwide

Portugal's public prosecutors began a two-day national strike on 9 July, with regional stoppages to follow into mid-July. The SMMP union says this year's magistrate reassignment masks a staffing shortage pushing the Ministério Público toward collapse. Minimum services hold; non-urgent trials may be

The Portugal Brief 09 Jul 2026

Subscribe to The Portugal Brief

Don't miss out on the latest news. Sign up now to get access to the library of members-only articles.

Sign up
Privacy Policy
Terms of Service
Partner with Us
Editorial Standards

The Portugal Brief © 2026. Powered by Ghost

Operated by Thrifty Explorations LLC.

[email protected]