João Relvas / Lusa
Judge Carlos Alexandre
The magistrate, who has been involved in some of the biggest court cases in Portugal in recent years, will head a new unit that will monitor SNS expenses and refer suspicious cases to the authorities.
The Government appointed judge Carlos Alexandre to preside over the newly created Commission to Combat Fraud in the National Health Service (CCF-SNS).
According to , the invitation was accepted by the magistrate, who became known for conducting some of the most publicized legal cases in recent decades, including the Operation Marquis and the EDP case.
Carlos Alexandre left the Central Criminal Instruction Court in 2023, after 20 years of investigating complex cases of corruption and economic-financial crime. Now, he takes on a new challenge in a context in which the SNS has been shaken by successive scandals in recent months, such as the dermatologist at Hospital Santa Maria who accumulated 700 thousand euros in overtime surgeries, several cases of doctors who are writing fake prescriptions of diabetes medicines and fraud in obtaining user numbers for immigrants.
CCF-SNS has an ambitious goal of saving the State around 800 million euros. The Minister of Health, Ana Paula Martins, estimates that between 3% and 5% of SNS expenditure may be linked to situations of fraud, waste or inefficiency.
The new commission will have the mission to centralize and coordinate the prevention and detection of fraud, analyzing risk indicators across all areas of expenditure. Whenever there are well-founded suspicions, the cases will be forwarded to the competent authorities. The team will be able to carry out audits, inspections, investigations and experts, in addition to proposing legislative changes aimed at strengthening internal control mechanisms.
In addition to Carlos Alexandre, the structure will have permanent members from the Judiciary Police, General Inspectorate of Finance, General Inspection of Health Activities, Shared Services of the Ministry of Health, Central Administration of the Health System and Infarmed.
Choice is “politically controversial”
In reaction to the appointment, trade unionist Joana Bordalo Dias describes the situation as “politically controversial” and accuses the Government of using the new anti-fraud unit as a form of tarnish the reputation of doctors.
“Carlos Alexandre is a controversial choice because his career has been marked by several public controversies. What we understand is that fraud must be investigated rigorously, but it cannot be transformed into an act of politics to create a public enemy and that is what is happening at the moment with doctors. This does not combat fraud; create a scapegoat“, considers the president of the National Federation of Doctors, in statements to Antena 1.
