Former Aroc mayor José Artur Neves denied this Thursday that he ordered the road between Chao de Ave and Quintela to be paved for election reasons, in a case that accuses him of awarding the work without a public tender.
José Artur Neves, who was secretary of state for civil protection after leaving the chamber, this Thursday began to appear before the court of Santa Maria da Feira in the Aveiro region, along with the current president of the municipality, Margarida Belén. for committing malfeasance and forging a document with aggravating circumstances, allegedly for awarding work without holding an open competition.
It is about paving a section of the road between Chao de Ave and Quintela on the occasion of the 2017 local elections, when José Artur Neves was elected mayor of Arouca PS and Margarida Belén was vice president, who would later be his successor.
The work was handed over to a construction company owned by Carlos Piño, who is also the president of the Aroca football club, co-defended in the same process, as well as the company he manages.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office (MP) considered that the contract was awarded without following any procedure prescribed by law for public procurement, simply verbally on the orders of José Artur Neves with the consent of his successor, in order to “ensure the highest possible number of votes” in the list in which they were , the former as a candidate for mayor of the municipal assembly, and the latter as a candidate for mayor.
Before the panel of judges, José Artur Neves began by clarifying that the site in question was not included in the tender for paving several roads in the municipality because the site had not yet had a sewer pipeline laid.
However, he said he visited the site before the start of the contract at the request of the chairman of the local council and found that the site in question was “in a very bad condition”, so he decided to proceed with the construction. work for reasons “absolutely necessary for safety”.
Regarding the alleged lack of an open tender, Artur Neves clarified that the work was carried out by “redundant work”, specifying that he ordered the removal of two floors that were stipulated in the contract awarded, and that, according to him, “were better than more work on this section.”
“It seemed very simple to me. On one side I removed the paving stones, and on the other side I laid the paving stones,” he said.
The former mayor, however, acknowledged that there was no “formalization” of the extra work, and laid the blame on the technical services of the chamber, who, in his opinion, “failed to cope with this process.”
He also felt that it was “good management by the municipality”, since if the work had been carried out at a different time, it would have been “much more expensive” due to the costs associated with raising funds.
Artur Neves also denied that he interfered with the start of the procedure for a direct agreement to paving the site in question at a price of 42,617.50 euros, which happened after the contract was completed and after Margarida Belen took office. Chambers of Arok.
The indictment also states that this contract “also violated the legal three-year limits on the date of the express agreement contract because it was a premium for services of the same type or identical to previous awards. occurred during this financial year and during the previous two financial years with the same company.
The trial was adjourned for lunch and is due to resume in the afternoon with testimony from Aroc Mayor Margarida Belén as businessman Carlos Piño decided not to testify at the hearing.
In addition to this case, José Artur Neves is also accused of procuring self-protection collars as part of the Aldeia Segura – Gente Segura program implemented after the 2017 forest fires.
The former ruler resigned in September 2019, the same day that the Judicial Police carried out searches at the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the National Directorate for Emergency Situations and Civil Protection.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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