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Hélder Mendes da Silva, director of Grupo Casais, Braga, was charged with bribery in Gibraltar. In court he denied the charges and was released after posting £ 5,000 bail. The company reacted this afternoon in a statement, revealing that Mendes da Silva requested the suspension of the position.
In a statement on August 25, the Police explained that the accusation against the managing director of the company in that English territory was due to a criminal complaint related to a project for which Casais was hired.
“It was alleged that, in April 2020, during commercial discussions on payments for construction works, a bribe was offered to an intermediary for 20,000 euros in cash to incentivize the approval of works in the project with a value close to two million pounds ”, reads the statement from the Royal Gibraltar Police.
According to the local press, present in court on August 26, Hélder Mendes da Silva pleaded not guilty.
The case will be heard by a higher court in November.
The director of Casais was released on payment of five thousand pounds.
“At the initiative of the employee himself, he suspended his position”
After being questioned by O MINHO, Casais issued a statement in which he said that, “however, at the initiative of the employee himself, he suspended his position and an interim director was appointed to exercise his function until the allegations are clarified.” .
In the statement, the Braga company indicates that, “from always”, it maintained “a position of clarity and transparency and, therefore, we clarified that no employee or manager of the subsidiary was arrested.”
“An employee of a service company lodged a complaint with the police claiming to have been incentivized with £ 20,000. As soon as we found out about the complaints, we formed an internal investigation committee and contacted local institutions on our own initiative, ”says the company.
Casais guarantees that “it collaborated with the investigation from the beginning, and the reasons that motivated this allegation will be analyzed by the competent entities.”
“As the complaints are related to a specific contract, in parallel, and to eliminate any suspicion about the referred works, we order the hiring of the services of an accredited, accredited and independent Topography of Quantities company to carry out an analysis of the amounts claimed in that same contract. ”Says the statement.
The company adds that, “to date, the target employee of our subsidiary has been summoned to appear in court and defend himself, something that will only be confirmed in November by a judge who, only then, will decide on the prosecution and follow-up. of process “.
“We are a Group with 4,500 employees that is present in 16 countries and, therefore, we attach great importance to the culture and values of all our units and people. Humanism, Integrity, Knowledge, Rigor, Dedication, Determination and Flexibility are part of our guiding principles, as well as the Code of Business Conduct and Ethics that links all the actions of our employees and subsidiaries ”, the statement also states.
Casais says that he believes “that all the evidence will clarify what happened in the events and we believe that, if the case goes to trial, given the collaboration and availability of the parties to provide all the information, the court will thoroughly analyze the evidence. and that a decision will be made on the allegations of the complaint presented as soon as possible ”.
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