The Polícia Judiciária (PJ) conducted searches on Wednesday at the Ourém City Council and three companies as part of an investigation into alleged crimes of urban planning violations, pollution, corruption, subsidy fraud, and money laundering.
In a statement addressed to clients and suppliers, released on its Facebook page, Verdasca group stated that “there was no irregularity in the urban planning licensing process, which is proceeding in the normal course and in coordination with the revision of Ourém’s Municipal Master Plan.”
The company also emphasized that the allegations of hazardous waste are unfounded, asserting that there is no such activity on its premises.
The statement further mentioned that “there is no application or any amount received from community funds.”
“The application mentioned in the [PJ] statement was rejected precisely due to the lack of a license. The ignorance of this elementary fact is surprising,” the statement continued.
Verdasca & Verdasca, headquartered in the Ourém municipality and operating nationwide, confirmed the judicial procedures at its facilities and reiterated the “total transparency of its operations, clarifying that the disclosed allegations do not correspond to the facts.”
According to the company, the group continues “all its operations functioning normally across the country” and “fully trusts that the process will demonstrate the absence of any illicit practices.”
In a statement, the PJ announced that it carried out “a police operation in the Ourém region, executing 25 search warrants at residential and non-residential sites within the premises of three industrial companies and the Ourém City Council.”
The operation, named “Terra Limpa,” was developed by the Leiria Criminal Investigation Department and the National Anti-Corruption Unit of the PJ, in collaboration with the General Inspectorate of Agriculture, Sea, Environment, and Spatial Planning (IGAMAOT), and is part of inquiries led by the Regional Investigation and Penal Action Department (DIAP) of Évora and the European Public Prosecutor’s Office.
“According to the investigation, several companies, belonging to the same business group, have conducted industrial activities within a national ecological reserve without the necessary operating licenses and construction permits, which could have caused potential ecological damage,” explained the PJ.
The PJ clarified that the issue involves “the process that led to the illegal construction of an industrial unit within a large complex situated in the Geological Resource Exploitation Spaces – Forest Conservation Spaces, as well as in the National Ecological Reserve protected area,” in Ourém municipality.
“This industrial unit is operational, with strong suspicions that clandestine waste deposits have also occurred in the area,” it added.
Additionally, according to the PJ, the issue also involves “the submission of applications for subsidies under the European Social Fund, the European Regional Development Fund, and the Recovery and Resilience Program, based on provisional operating licenses and construction permits issued by the Ourém municipality.”
The “projects in question involve subsidies amounting to 19 million euros, with payments of at least 5.5 million euros already made.”
In a statement, the Ourém City Council assured that it fully cooperated with the authorities in the searches, during which documentation and information related to the private construction licensing process were collected.
