Covid support fraud: president of ADFP in Coimbra goes to trial and denies accusations
The ADFP foundation and three defendants will be tried in Coimbra for alleged fraud of 73,350 euros in pandemic support. The president denies irregularities.
Trial in Coimbra over misuse of covid support starts on Thursday
The ADFP foundation — Assistance, Development and Professional Training —, its president, Jaime Ramos, his son, Rui Ramos, who is also executive director of the entity, and the person responsible for the Inclusive Professional Insertion Office (GIP) will be tried starting on Thursday at Coimbra Court, suspected of fraud in obtaining support created during the covid-19 pandemic. According to jn.pt, the Public Prosecutor's Office (MP) accuses the defendants of having wrongfully obtained 73,350 euros through the MAREESS programme.
The MP, in an indictment with more than 70 pages to which the Lusa agency had access, argues that Jaime Ramos and Rui Ramos set up a scheme between 2020 and 2021 to obtain economic benefits from the MAREESS measure. This State mechanism, created in the context of the pandemic, was intended for the public and social sector, with the objective of supporting the replacement of workers absent or temporarily unable to work for reasons related to covid-19. The State ensured 90 per cent of the worker's allowance, with the remaining 10 per cent falling to the institution itself.
According to the accusation, the defendants concluded that the application processes "were carried out remotely" and took advantage of this circumstance to include, in the 18 applications submitted, recipients who "in practice would perform functions unrelated to needs arising from increased covid services or covid outbreaks".
Support used to cover permanent foundation needs
The MP considers that the ADFP used the support to hire "workers who made up for a pre-existing shortage of labour in social support services, resulting from the departure of contracted workers or from workers taking leave". The implementation of the scheme, according to the accusation, involved including in the applications and requests for extension "false information, namely regarding the number of recipients needed to address exceptional contingencies related to covid".
The accusation refers to several specific cases in which the support was allegedly diverted for other purposes. The allowances were used to remunerate a worker responsible for processing salaries of the foundation's employees, of St. Paul's School — a private school in Coimbra owned by the company Letras Exímias, whose sole shareholder is the ADFP itself —, and also other entities in the foundation's universe, such as Hotel Serra da Lousã, Conimbriga Hotel do Paço and Saboaria da Serra.
The MP also points to the payment of allowances to a woman who worked in the kitchen of the private school, to a psychologist at the same school and to employees who provided services in the foundation's vineyards, in civil construction works or in the service of a bar.
Anonymous report and IEFP audit
The case was discovered following an anonymous report directed at the Institute for Employment and Professional Training (IEFP), which initiated an audit. As a result of that investigation, the foundation returned 65,000 euros to the State. The Public Prosecutor's Office further argues that the defendants should be ordered to return the remaining 7,733 euros and that they be subject to the accessory penalty of deprivation of the right to subsidies or grants awarded by public entities or services.
President claims he will prove innocence
Questioned by the Lusa agency, Jaime Ramos rejected the accusations. The president of the ADFP stated that he would give statements at the beginning of the trial and guaranteed that he would prove that the foundation and the other defendants are innocent.
Source: Google News PT — Crime (pt)