The Judicial Police of Porto and Vila Real announced this Wednesday a major operation to investigate the activities of water businesses and municipal companies. 20 suspects were arrested for falsifying tests of water intended for human consumption. We are talking about crimes related to abuse of power, computer forgery, aggravated document forgery, criminal association, malfeasance, spreading diseases and forging prescriptions.
Vila Flor city councilor responsible for education, sports and culture, Luis Policarpo, is one of those detained as part of the Gota d’Agua operation, a local government source confirmed to Lusa.
Luis Policarpo was elected by the PSD/CDU-PP coalition in the 2021 local elections.
In its statement, the municipality also assured that it “applies a natural approach to these types of procedures by the judiciary and cooperates with the inspectors of the judicial police in all their requests for clarification of the facts, whatever they may be, and a full investigation of the material truth.”
There were also 60 home and off-site searches targeting various individuals, companies and government agencies located in various municipalities.
According to a statement by the Judicial Police, the investigation focuses on the fraudulent activities of the laboratory responsible for the collection and analysis of water intended for human consumption, wastewater, bathing water, swimming pools, catchments, streams, boreholes, wells and others.
“Adulteration aims to reduce laboratory costs while compromising the credibility and reliability of analytical results and, as a result, the quality of water consumed daily by the population,” he adds.
Detained between the ages of 25 and 61, “laboratory employees and managers, employees, directors and local elected officials of business entities and/or companies (municipal chambers and concession companies) will be brought for judicial questioning for the application of coercive measures deemed appropriate.” .
After Montalegre and Espinho, as well as the arrest of the mayors, this time there are four municipalities to look for: Vila Real, Vila Pouca de Aguiar, Vila Flor and Alfandega da Fe, the last two are already in the Bragança region.
Several arrests are planned in the case, which belongs to the DIAP in Porto and was led by judge Pedro Miguel Vieira. The focus of the process was the business of municipal companies.
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