President of ULS Tâmega and Sousa requests dismissal if accused corruption

O president of the Local Health Unit (ULS) of Tâmega and Sousa, José Luís Gaspar, assumed today that he will ask for the dismissal of office if he is deducted definitive accusation against him for corruption.

“ In full articulation with the Minister of Health, if definitive accusation is deducted, and in order to be able to prepare my defense in trial, I myself, I repeat, in full articulation with the Minister [Ana Paula Martins], will ask the dismissal of the position I currently exercise”, reads in the statement sent to Lusa.

In the note sent with six points, the current president of that ULS based in Penafiel, who was accused of the practice of two crimes of prevarication and a crime of passive corruption allegedly committed as mayor of Amarante, points out to have “always collaborated with the discovery of truth”, and claims to be “safe” of not having committed “any illegality” in the exercise of “public functions” and in his “personal life”, which is why he is “absolutely convinced” of his “total innocence”.

Remembers José Luís Gaspar that inquiry process will now enter the stage of instruction (optional stage that aims to decide by a criminal investigation judge if the process follows and in what ways for trial), there is therefore no “any definitive charge”.

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Still, he claims to have “full awareness” that a possible definitive accusation will force him to prepare the trial.

“ Until then I will fulfill, as so far, the obligations that have been affected me with the same brio and professionalism serving the community and the National Health Service ", concludes.

The Ministry of Health justified on Thursday the absence of José Luís Gaspar from the presidency of the ULS Tâmega and Sousa, claiming that the crimes he is accused of will have occurred in the performance of other functions.

In response to questions from Lusa about the alleged duality of criteria in this case and in Aveiro, in which the president of ULS was removed following suspicions of corruption crimes, the Ministry of Health says that the minister “takes decisions in the areas for which she is mandated”.

Underlining that it is the responsibility of the head of the Health Department “to protect the users of the various hospital units”, the guardianship says that the decisions on judicial matters “feel to the courts” and recalls that “everyone enjoys the right to presumption of innocence”.

“ Whenever the functioning of any ULS is at risk it is the health minister’s obligation to reduce this risk, if it is not possible to restore the complete normality of the situation”, explains the answer of the Ministry of Health.

The Public Prosecutor (MP) accused the former mayor of Amarante José Luís Gaspar, a former council secretary and two entrepreneurs for various crimes of corruption and prevarication, according to the Regional Attorney General's Office of Porto (PGRP).

According to a note published on the PGRP website, there are facts that occurred between 2013 and 2017, when José Luís Gaspar was in charge of that municipality in Porto district.

The former mayor elected by the PSD/CDS-PP coalition, who resigned in 2025 to take over the presidency of the Local Health Unit of Tâmega and Sousa, is accused of the practice of two crimes of prevarication and a crime of passive corruption.

On the other hand, the Secretary of the Council of the Council of the Council of Ministers of that municipality, at that time, is charged with a crime of passive corruption.

The MP also imposed on two managers of commercial companies awarded in public contracts of contracts and services concluded with that authority the practice of an active corruption crime and another of prevarication.

The prosecution of the MP states that, between 2015 and 2017, the municipality concluded public contracts for the provision of services, by direct adjustment, bypassing legal rules to always deliver the contracts to the same provider despite the limits defined by law.

Another case is related to the placement of security guards in some of the places where would pass a stage of Rally 2015, in the area of the municipality of Amarante, and according to the investigation, the guards were placed by a company contacted by the municipality before any public procurement procedure was launched, in violation of public procurement rules.

The charge also states that the municipality awarded, by direct adjustment, a contract of employment to a company worth EUR 30,728 to obtain a discount of about EUR 3,300 in the framework of a project to build a single-family housing for private purposes.