ICNF technician was paid to approve agricultural projects. MP accuses of corruption crimes an official of the Natural Park of Southwest Alentejo and Costa Vicentina who is suspected of having obtained illicit advantages of more than 477 thousand euros.
A former senior technician at the Institute for the Conservation of Nature and Forests (ICNF), will be judged by 19 crimes, 9 of passive corruption, 5 of whitening, 2 of improper receipt of advantage and 3 of violation of urban rules by employee, for having received various amounts of money in the course of illicit intervention within the scope of claims and licensing processes for urban interventions.
The financial and asset investigation under the responsibility of the Judiciary Police Asset Recovery Office, which was based on the statements to the Tax Authority of the defendant and the woman between July 2012 and December 2017, concluded that the individual benefited from illicit monetary advantages and goods worth 477.304,13 euros, translated into bank deposits, two properties in Buarcos (Figueira da Foz) and five cars, among which a Mercedes-Benz SLK 200. To guarantee the return to the State, by court decision of 6 June 2018, assets were seized in the amount of 205.570,33 euros.
The accused, holder of a bachelor's degree in civil engineering, topography branch, was preventively suspended in 17 September 2018, by the ICNF Board of Directors, having as a result of the disciplinary proceedings instituted, on 15 May 2019 the sanction of dismissal was applied., with termination of public employment relationship.
Paulo Ventura, of 49 year old, ICNF employee since 2009, was placed until february of 2018 in the Licensing and Project Evaluation Division of the Sudoeste Alentejano e Costa Vicentina Natural Park (PNSACV), in Odemira, function used for works in a private capacity and not authorized by the ICNF.
According to the indictment of the Department of Investigation and Criminal Action (DIAP) Évora, that the Lidador News (LN) We had access, the defendant is appointed as the mentor of a scheme that involves five more defendants., Two men, one woman and two companies. According to the accusation, the individual "combined" the particular functions with those exercised in the PNSACV/ICNF to start "earning amounts of money, proposing and making available to those interested in legalizing urban interventions" in the Natural Park area.
Defendants and crimes
Paulo Ventura (19 crimes): 9 of passive corruption, 5 of whitening, 2 of improper receipt of advantage and 3 of violation of urban rules by employee. António Alexandre (4 crimes): 4 of whitening. Real Look Real Estate (4 crimes): 4 of whitening. Jose Manuel Fayos Mestre (2 crimes): 1 of improper receipt of advantage and 1 of document forgery. Cristina Fayos Catala (2 crimes): 1 of improper receipt of advantage and 1 of document forgery. Eurocitros One Person, Lda (2 crimes): 1 of improper receipt of advantage and 1 of document forgery.
To "disguise" your illicit activity, the defendant "used third parties" to sign the projects that he had prepared and whose payments were received through Look Real Mediação Imobiliária, in articulation with António Alexandre, also defendants in the process.
Already with the investigation underway, on 1 March 2018, Paulo Ventura was appointed Head of the Urban Works and Services Unit of the Barrancos Chamber, in a direct appointment of the then president of the municipality, João Serranito Nunes, who for a decade had been his boss at PNSACV. A 18 of September, when the scandal broke out in the media the mayor fired Paulo Ventura. In the local elections of 2009, Ventura was part of the Socialist Party lists for the Municipal Assembly of Odemira.
The remaining three defendants in the process are the company Eurocitros,Lda and the managers José Manuel Fayos Mestre and Cristina Fayos Catala, father and daughter, of spanish origin, that when the scandal broke out “they presented themselves†as victims of the scheme engendered by Paulo Ventura. However, and according to DIAP, so that society could install an agricultural project in the rustic building located in the Natural Park, that needed ICNF approval, Manuel Fayos delivered between 5.000 a 6000 euros to Ventura to unlock the entire process.
To implement the 2nd phase of installation of the agricultural project, a Eurocitros, through Manuel and Cristina they requested an environmental study from Ecosativa Consultoria Ambiental, Lda. As the study concluded that "the desirable situation of the ecological point of view is that no additional area be planted". in research, DIAP concluded that the defendants asked Ecosativa for maps of the location of the plantation with the definition of the habitats and flora in question., "having later changed its content, specifically with regard to the reference of negative impacts of relevant significance", to make it as original and thus permit licensing with ICNF. A empresa, father and daughter, of "injured" were eventually constituted defendants in the process.
Paulo Ventura was recurrent in another type of illicit, when requesting money from entrepreneurs who intended to install projects in the Park area and who had to resort to ICNF where they "stranded" with the defendant, as was the case with the Terradhana Society, Ld.ª, headquartered at Herdade do Cerro, in São Teotónio/Odemira.
The managing partner Pedro Kaiseler, gave rise to the PNSACV/ICNF assessment and compliance opinion, for the construction of support ponds and storage area. The investigation concluded that Paulo Ventura received several amounts, totaling an amount not less than 7.350,00 euros.
In addition to the accusation that hangs over Paulo Ventura, António Fernandes and his company, Look Real Mediação Imobiliária, Lda, are charged with four counts of money laundering each., and José Manuel Fayos Mestre, Cristina Fayos Catala and the company Eurocitros, of a crime of a crime of improper receipt of advantage and another of document forgery, each.
The process was titled by the DIAP of Évora, the investigation having been carried out by inspectors of the Criminal Investigation Department of Setúbal of the Judiciary Police, with the judgment to be held at the Court of Beja using a Collective of Judges, count with 22 prosecution witnesses, risking the defendants imprisonment of more than five years.
Teixeira Correia
(journalist)
Photo: Reinaldo Rodrigues / Global Images
