Portugal's right-wing Chega party announced on July 24 it will compel a parliamentary committee of inquiry into the tenure of Judicial Police director Luís Neves, set to begin next legislative session. With 60 deputies, the party holds enough seats to force the probe. Neves responded "good" to the announcement, saying he is fully available to provide clarifications in any forum.
The controversy erupted on July 10 when reports emerged that Neves hired a company that had also performed work for the Judicial Police to renovate his property in Odemira. Neves confirmed that Construbarcelos received approximately 1.9 million euros in public contracts between 2020 and 2025. The police separately opened an investigation on July 17 into a trailer seized in a drug trafficking case that was attached to a Construbarcelos truck.
The Socialist Party accused Chega of seeking to weaken the Judicial Police through the inquiry. Former opposition leader Rui Rio said the case deeply undermines the credibility of the governing Social Democratic Party and the government.