Lisbon City Council's top administrator suspended by a court in Christmas-lighting corruption probe

On 17 March 2026 Portugal's Judiciary Police detained four people, including Alberto Laplaine Guimarães, secretary-general of the Lisbon City Council, in 'Operação Lúmen,' an investigation into the award of festive-lighting contracts, with searches in 10 municipalities. Suspected offences include active and passive corruption, economic participation in business, abuse of power and criminal association; the PJ said the scheme secured contracts for the targeted company worth up to 8 million euros.