The municipality of Vila Nova de Gaia has acted as an accomplice in the process of Operation Babylon, in which its former vice-president, Patrocino Azevedo, is accused of crimes such as passive corruption and trading in influence.
The ratification of the resolution was included on the agenda of the council meeting this Monday, contrary to what was planned last week, and was unanimously approved by the municipal executive.
“The accusation was made, and the Administrative Tax Court [TAF] “Porto submitted the constitution to the chamber as an assistant in this process, because, in fact, it is part of it,” Eduardo Vitor Rodrigues, president of the Gaia Chamber, told reporters at the end of the meeting.
As a result of Operation Babylon, seven people were arrested on May 16, 2023, including then Vice President of the Chamber of Gaia Patrocinho Azevedo, businessman Paulo Malafaia and the founder of the Fortera group Elad Dror.
The case concerns the alleged violation of rules and regulations on city licensing processes in favour of promoters of high-density, high-scale projects, with real estate interests worth approximately €300 million at stake, through the offer and acceptance of monetary consideration.
Eduardo Vitor Rodriguez stressed that this “formalism”, as he called it, does not force the municipality to take a position on the content of the process, adding that until now the role of the Chamber of Gaia “was to provide documents”.
“The municipality is obliged, I say, to appoint an assistant who will monitor the process, and if there is any objective damage, then demand it,” he said.
According to Eduardo Vitor Rodriguez, “the only damage indicated in the indictment is the free supply of plants worth 153 euros”, in material terms, while in non-material terms he believes that what is at stake may be “damage to the municipality’s image”.
“Whether or not I continue to think that the instructions will still allow us to find out a lot of things that are not explained well enough, we have done so in accordance with the standard of requests” for compensation, in this case 30,000 euros for the municipal urban development company Gaiurb and 50,000 euros for the city council.
Former party vice president Gaia Patrocinho Azevedo, who is in custody, is charged with five counts of passive corruption, four counts of malfeasance in office, one count of economic participation in business, one count of trading in influence, one count of abuse of power, one count of money laundering and four counts of receiving or offering an undue advantage.
The defendants also include lawyer João Lopes, Luisa Aparicio, who at the time of the events was head of the Municipal Department of Urbanism and Environment of the Chamber of Gaia, a Spanish economist and 10 companies, most of which belonged to the Fortera Group, with Israeli capital linked to business development and real estate.
The investigation alleges that Elad Dror and developer Paulo Malafaia “agreed with each other to develop real estate projects in the city of Vila Nova de Gaia, namely projects called Skyline/Cultural and Congress Center, Riverside and Hotel Azul,” counting on alleged favoritism from Gaia’s former deputy, who would receive money and material goods such as watches in return.
Real estate businessman Paulo Malafaia, who also faces the most severe measure of restraint, is charged with three counts of active corruption, three counts of official misconduct, one count of economic participation in a business, one count of money laundering, one count of influence, one count of abuse of power and four counts of receiving or offering an undue advantage.
The prosecution also charged Elad Dror with five counts of active corruption, four counts of official misconduct, one count of economic participation in business, one count of money laundering, one count of trading in influence, and four counts of receiving or offering an undue advantage.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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