The amount of money missing from Pedrógâo Grande council has risen from ‘around €30,000’ as reported yesterday (HERE) to a markedly higher figure with the police today confirming that officers have traced 'over €400,000' during their investigations.The fraud involves a division head, an accountant and a treasurer at the council that was made infamous last year as being the centre of fatal forest fires.
The Judicial Police have arrested “the head of a division of the councils of Pedrógão Grande, suspected of several crimes of embezzlement and falsification of documents.”
"We do not yet have a final amount calculated but in Tuesday's proceedings over €80,000 in cash was seized and a bank account was discovered containing over €400,000," said a source.
According to the police, on the face of it these crimes were committed during 2017 and early 2018, but there is "a strong suspicion that this activity was already going on well before 2017."
The investigation started earlier this year and is not thought directly to involve money donated to the council to help rebuilt its community in the wake of the 2017 fires.
In addition to the preparation of false invoices, the suspect will paid "several private expenses, then receiving their respective value, stating that the payment of such expenses was the responsibility of the council."
