Current and former mayor of Valongo convicted of abuse of power

O currently and former mayor of Valongo, Paulo Esteves Ferreira and José Manuel Ribeiro, were convicted today for abuse of power to the loss of mandate for limiting the circulation of trucks on the access road to Sobrado landfill in 2020.

The Court of Valongo also condemned the two mayors, elected by the PS, to the payment of 100 days of fine, at 30 euros each day, and to the payment “in solidarity” of 61 thousand euros.

At the end of the reading of the sentence, which took place at the beginning of this afternoon, and in which the Court judged the facts contained in the charge to be well founded, the mayors stated that they were “shocked” and ensured that they would appeal to the higher bodies.

According to the prosecution of the Public Prosecutor (MP), Paulo Esteves Ferreira and José Manuel Ribeiro ordered in 2020 the ban on traffic on the Municipal Road 606 (EM606) of trucks to the landfill of Sobrado to lead to its closure.

The companies responsible for the operation of the landfill in that municipality, Retria and Recivalongo, speak of losses of more than EUR 1,5 million, caused during the three months to which the measure was in force.

For the prosecution, the defendants knew that EM606 “was the only way to access the premises of the offended companies” and that the activity of these “depended on almost all the materials transported” by the lorries.

According to the MP, the defendants, by imposing the ban, did so “for the purpose of harming those companies, preventing the exercise of their activity and for which they were licensed”.

The prosecution also reports that, since 2019, the relationship between the municipality and the companies that exploit the landfill was marked by conflictuality.