Porto, October 22, 2025 — The former president of the Humanitarian Association of Voluntary Firefighters of Porto, Jaime Madureira, was sentenced today to a suspended four-year prison term for misappropriating 53,334 euros from the institution between 2014 and 2019.
During the reading of the verdict at the São João Novo Court in Porto, the presiding judge stated that the sentence is suspended for a period of five years, conditional on Madureira paying the said amount back to the firefighters.
The payment of 53,334 euros to the firefighters is to be made in installments, specifically biannually (5,353 euros), the magistrate explained.
The judge noted that the former president of the Humanitarian Association of Voluntary Firefighters of Porto, aged 73 and retired, now convicted of embezzlement, has no prior criminal record and cooperated with the court, factors considered in the application of the sentence.
“This is an institution very necessary to society and deserves every kind of respect, which is why this type of conduct is inadmissible,” the judge stated.
Emphasizing that there are rules for the expenditure of the firefighters, the magistrate stressed that “everything involving money” must be clarified and controlled.
She added that the former president of the institution, by using the money as he did, harmed the firefighters.
“This is not acceptable by society,” she concluded.
Between 2014 and May 2019, the former president of the Porto Volunteer Firefighters, taking advantage of his position, appropriated for his own benefit or that of others a total of 53,334 euros belonging to the association.
The defendant took possession of cash revenues received by the association, which, by his order, were handed over to him, contrary to the practice before his tenure began.
Moreover, the former president, removed in May 2019, refueled his vehicle using the fleet card issued in the association’s name and benefited from reimbursement for personal expenses charged to the association for meals, supermarket expenses, and other out-of-duty expenses without authorization.
