One of the 18 defendants involved in the case was among the twelve individuals and entities sentenced, which included nine people and three companies, as announced by the prosecutor’s office on its official website. The others were acquitted.
In addition to the actual prison sentence handed down to the businessman, the panel of judges sentenced eight individuals to prison terms ranging from one year and six months to four years and five months. These sentences were suspended on the condition of payment of amounts between €1,500 and €2,500 to the firefighters in their area of residence.
Among those convicted was the former deputy mayor of Vieira do Minho, Pedro Álvares, who, apart from the suspended sentence, was banned from holding public office for two years and ten months.
Three of the four companies involved were fined amounts ranging from €18,000 to €50,000.
“The Braga Court ordered the demolition of the constructions carried out in violation of legal regulations,” the prosecutor’s office highlighted.
The facts, dating back to between 2009 and 2017 in the parish of Lordelo, concern the construction of three single-family homes, the extension of two others, and the building of concrete fencing walls around the Caniçada reservoir, which violated urban planning regulations, particularly the Caniçada Reservoir Management Plan.
The court found that, “although the land was in a protected area where new housing construction was prohibited, and only limited enlargement or alteration of existing buildings was permitted, the pre-existence of constructions that never existed or did not exist with those dimensions was simulated.”
