John Culatto
THE Managing Director of one of Gibraltar’s biggest international construction companies has been arrested today by the RGP.
Helder Mendes Da Silva, 49, who heads up Casais Gibraltar, has been detained and charged with the offence of bribery.
The arrest follows nearly three months of investigation by the Royal Gibraltar Police.
Two senior construction company officials were arrested back in May 12 on suspicion of bribery and released on bail.
Mendes Da Silva was formally accused of having made a €20,000 cash bribe to a third party in April 2020.
The RGP said this is suspected to have happened ‘during the course of commercial discussions relating to payments of construction works’,
According to the police, the payment was allegedly made ‘to encourage a third-party to approve disputed works on a project’ valued at nearly £2 million.
The investigation was carried out after a criminal complaint was made for a project which Casais was working on.
Casais have been responsible for a number of high profile projects including the two comprehensive schools in record time last year.
The defendant will appear in the Magistrate’s Court at 10am tomorrow morning.
