Lisbon, Oct. 14, 2025 (Lusa) - Gulf Med, the company responsible for the country's current air ambulance service, acknowledged on Tuesday that it is taking legal action against the Portuguese state, refuting accusations from the Court of Auditors, which found that the company acted in bad faith in its dealings with INEM.
In a statement, the Malta-based company refutes the accusations of the Court of Auditors (TdC), which, in its ruling that the direct award made by the National Emergency Medical Institute (INEM) is null and void, said that the company acted in bad faith throughout the process, and regrets that it was not given "the right of defence".
Gulf Med says it wants to "present its detailed version of the facts in the appropriate forum" and that it reserves the right to "activate all available legal mechanisms, including a civil liability action against the Portuguese State, to repair the damage to its reputation" caused by accusations that it said were "unfounded and detrimental to its good name and image".
Gulf Med Aviation Services is the company that was awarded the contract for the medical emergency helicopter service, as part of an international public tender that foresaw the start of the operation on 1 July, which didn't happen, and which forced INEM to go ahead with the direct award and rely on the support of the Air Force.
In its ruling on the direct award, the TdC recalls that, when it made this choice, INEM faced the lack of a concession and a visa for the international public tender contract, as well as a communication from Gulf Med on 13 June stating that the company would not fulfil the contract.
The judgement also said that when the approval for this contract was granted, INEM was in a position to notify Gulf Med of the start of its term, requiring it to deliver the aircraft for inspection within the next 24 hours.
"Even if all the time that the contracting parties themselves had foreseen in clauses 5 and 6 as reasonable was necessary for inspection, correction of any anomalies and positioning of the aircraft in time for them to be operational on 01/07 (...), the contract could have come into effect on 08/07, were it not for Gulf Med's failure to fulfil it," the document states.
According to the Court of Auditors, the time that elapsed between the award (26/03/2025) and the signing of the contract (20/05/2025) "is solely and exclusively attributable to Gulf Med" and the company's statement to INEM on 5 June that it was unable to start the operation was "totally unforeseeable to INEM" and "reflects bad faith" on the part of the company throughout this process.
For all these reasons, the Court of Auditors considers that INEM should pay "the amount corresponding to the partial fulfilment of part or parts of the services provided and demand compensation for non-compliance with the remaining services, under the contractual terms".
In a statement released today, Gulf Med refutes the accusations, saying that it "saved the Portuguese emergency medical service when no one else was willing or able to do so" and that it communicated in good time the technical constraints related to the full fulfilment of the main contract, "related to European legal obligations of aeronautical safety (Regulation EU 965/2012)".
The company insists that it was the only one available for the transitional contract, "ensuring that Portugal would not be without helicopters dedicated exclusively to medical emergencies for a single day" and that it has fully complied with this contract.
It also said that after winning the international public tender, the legal teams from Gulf Med Aviation Services and INEM worked closely to ensure a transition of operators that would not jeopardise the existence of the air ambulance service.
The company explained that it "always followed the guidelines given to it by INEM as to how it would ensure the transitional phase" so that the Portuguese state would not be unable to guarantee "an essential service for the country's citizens".
Gulf Med also believes that its entry into the Portuguese market has brought significant savings for the Portuguese state, recalling that in the international public tender recently held, it presented “the most economically advantageous proposal, around €14 million lower than the previous operator of this INEM service”.
It says that the Court of Auditors made accusations against the company without ever having notified it, "without giving it any opportunity for defence, and without regard for the basic details of the adversarial process".
"This action constitutes a flagrant violation of the fundamental rights of any entity in a State governed by the rule of law and causes damage to the reputation of a company that has always acted with total transparency, responsibility and professionalism," it added.
SO/ADB // ADB.
Lusa
