In July 2024, about one hundred defendants were sentenced, including suspended prison terms, and were required to pay fines ranging from 200 to 12,500 euros in a case involving businesspeople and farmers from the districts of Guarda and Castelo Branco accused of subsidy fraud.
Regarding the appeals made to the second instance by ten defendants, the Coimbra Court of Appeal only partially upheld the appeal of a farmer, revising his suspended prison sentence to three years and six months and the fine to a total of 720 euros.
The case concerned the improper acquisition of subsidies by entrepreneurs and farmers who, between 2010 and 2013, purchased tractors and other equipment from two companies based in Guarda, with community funding.
One of these companies, Maquiguarda, responsible for issuing 54 out of 154 invoices associated with the case, also had its appeal declared inadmissible by the Coimbra Court of Appeal, along with its manager, António Robalo Pinheiro.
Maquiguarda had been sentenced to a security deposit of five thousand euros, and its manager was given a suspended sentence of three years along with a fine of 2,500 euros.
The highest prison sentence handed down by the Guarda Court was four years, imposed on the managers of MTA – Comércio de Máquinas, Tratores e Automóveis, namely António José Pereira, Paulo Joaquim Pereira, and Vítor Manuel Pereira.
In total, 154 investment projects were investigated, with 100 involving invoices issued by MTA.
In the proceedings, about 60 defendants were acquitted by the panel of judges at the Guarda Court.
The purchases of tractors and equipment were made through investment projects approved by the Institute of Financing of Agriculture and Fisheries (IFAP), which was an assistant in the case and also appealed the decision—an appeal that the Coimbra Court of Appeal also rejected.
