Four people who asked for financial support to rebuild their burnt out houses in the Pedrógão Grande area of Leiria have been made defendants as part of an investigation into irregularities and fraud.
The Department of Criminal Investigation in Coimbra said that, "so far, four defendants have been named among the applicants for support."
According to the Department, the Judicial Police are continuing to investigate corruption, fraud and the falsification of documents.
Reports into fraudulent claims were exposed by Visão and TVI, which showed that rebuilding funds had been misallocated.
The two reports said that second homes had been rebuilt with money from the fund, to the detriment of first home owners - also that houses that had not been affected by the fire mysteriously had been rebuilt with charitable funds.
The Mayor of Pedrógão Grande announced today that he had “asked to leave” the Management Council of the Revita Fund, a structure created by the Government following the devastating June 2017 fires.
The fire broke out on June 17th last year in Escalos Fundeiros, Pedrógão Grande and quickly spread to neighboring council areas, causing 66 deaths and injuring 253 people, seven of them seriously Around 500 houses were destroyed, 261 of which were permanently occupied first homes.
One of the accused, Augusto Neves, is brother of the president of the parish council of Vila Facaia.
