A woman and two men “accused of committing crimes of corruption, active and passive, as well as receiving undue advantages,” were detained by the Judicial Police after raids carried out on Tuesday at Câmara de Torres Novas’ urban planning office.
The Judicial Police (PJ) said in a statement that the operation, dubbed “Build First”, was carried out by the Leiria Criminal Investigation Department, with five house search warrants executed, two search warrants were not house arrests. and three arrest warrants issued by the Department of Investigations and Criminal Affairs of the State Ministry of Tomar.
According to the JV, the investigation began in the summer of 2021 after an anonymous complaint regarding the licensing of new construction and real estate re-qualification, with “manipulation of pre-actions to comply with processes during scheduled inspections.”
Two of the detainees, the senior and another middle management of the municipality, “violating their functional duties”, received “thus a material benefit,” the joint venture points out.
“The investigation carried out allowed the collection of convincing evidence of the exposed facts, which led to the issuance of warrants by the competent judicial authorities,” the note says.
The statement also notes that the three detainees, aged 68, 63 and 62, will be present at the first judicial interrogation and application of coercive measures.
A source from Camara de Torres Novas (Santarem) told Lusa this Wednesday that the Judicial Police were at the municipal urban planning services all day Tuesday, in a process that involved two municipal officials and an outside designer.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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