Carlos Chaves Monteiro
The President of the Parish Council of Guarda is being appointed to head the Guarda Pension Fund, but is involved in controversy for having allegedly worked as a lawyer during a suspension of the Order and when he was receiving unemployment benefits.
The possible appointment of Carlos Chaves Monteiro for district director of Social Security in Guarda is being questioned due to suspicions that he worked as a lawyer while receiving unemployment benefits. The situation is even generating doubts within local PSD structures under the current president of the Guarda parish council, who previously led the city council.
According to the , allegations of practicing acts typical of law at a time when he was receiving unemployment benefit and his registration with the Bar Association was suspended. After losing the 2021 local elections to Sergio CostaMonteiro remained a councilor without a role and benefited from unemployment benefits between November of that year and January 2023.
Documents reveal that, in June 2022, Monteiro sent an email to the Guarda Local Health Unit (ULS) asking for access to a medical record on behalf of a third party, who identified as your “client”. In the communication, he presented himself as a lawyer and threatened to resort to legal means if the request was not satisfied.
Jurists consulted by the Observer consider that these acts may constitute illicit attorneyship and, eventually, usurpation of functionsas a lawyer with suspended registration cannot represent third parties nor invoke this capacity in formal acts.
Monteiro rejects the accusations, stating that he acted only as “a mere transmitting vehicle” at the request of a childhood friend, whose father had died under suspicious circumstances. “In my understanding, I understood that I was not committing malfeasance. It would never be a crime because I am not carrying out any legal act“, he states.
Another issue raised concerns the legal framework for accumulating activity with unemployment benefit. Even without direct remunerationthe practice of professional acts may constitute an infraction or even fraud against Social Security.
Despite the controversy, Monteiro’s name continues to be mentioned as the likely choice to head Social Security in Guarda, still needing approval by CRESAP.
