The former mayor of Tavira, and latterly Faro, finally has received his sentence - four and a half years in prison, suspended for the same period.
Correia had been found guilty by Faro court of misusing his political office by authorising the construction of three houses and one swimming pool in a National Ecological Reserve (REN) area within the Tavira municipality.
Added to these four charges was another pool construction for which he was found not guilty.
At the end of the sentence reading in Faro court today, Correia was in combative form as ever, confirming to journalists that he will appeal, adding that the case had dragged on for eight years yet not one of the properties in question has ever been declared illegal, the houses do not exist and their building licenses expired long ago.
The permissions were authorised during Correia's third term of office as Tavira mayor between 2005 and 2009, when against the technical advice from his own engineers, he granted the projects in places "where construction was absolutely forbidden."
Correia said of the accusations that he never issued a building permit for the properties in question as the projects were still on the drawing board, but still he has been found guilty of contravening REN protection laws.
The Faro judge, Fernando Marques da Silva, was clear that just because a property does not get built, this does not mean that a crime has not taken place.
The judge at least concluded that Correia had not benefitted personally from approving these projects but that the people who submitted the projects will or could have done.
Correia has fought these accusations for years and still reckons he is right to claim that he has done nothing wrong, or nothing illegal anyway.
