The hunt is on for people suspected of having bribed two female building inspectors employed by Olhão council after €33,000 in cash was confiscated from the home of one of them.
The cash was found during a police swoop earlier this week.
With both women now suspected of passive corruption and money-laundering, PJ investigators have let it be known that anyone involved in their alleged business scams will receive a reduced sentence if they come forward voluntarily.
Meantime, the bank accounts of both women - one a former head of department, aged 54, and the other, aged 41 - are being minutely analysed.
Suspicions, explains national tabloid Correio da Manhã, are that the pair took bribes in order to “look the other way” in instances of illegal building.
A complaint by a local resident who claims to have paid the duo €4,000 is what first set the PJ on their trail over a year ago, adds the paper.
As the probe continues, both women have been heard by DIAP (department of penal action and investigation) in Faro and are now free on the understanding that they remain in their area of residence.
They are both suspended from their duties at the town hall, prohibited from contacting each other and banned from entering council establishments.
Article by kind permission of http://portugalresident.com
Comments
What happened to politness and tolerance?
What ever happened to grammar and punctuation?
Your post makes little or no sense!
Also remind ourselves this Portugal. These women may be bad and greedy or it is sexism. They are actually straight and honest. Which is anathema to most mafiosi building developers who want their 'boy' on the inside.
And what sane Portuguese, knowing nothing about the lie of the land and how many heavyweights - perhaps themselves professional law enforcers - are involved in these scams who would dump it all on them if they take up the kind offer of the PJ to 'help them with their enquiries' ...??
(PJ investigators have let it be known that anyone involved in their alleged business scams will receive a reduced sentence if they come forward voluntarily)