BRITISH POLICE want to join forces with Portuguese counterparts to investigate the legality of the construction of one of Europe’s largest factory outlet shopping parks near an environmentally protected nature reserve.
The ongoing scandal over the authorisation and planning permission licensing of Freeport Retail Outlet at Alcochete, near Lisbon, in 2005, could threaten to be a major headache for the administration of José Sócrates, the then Minister for the Environment who gave the green light for the development project.
According to both national newspapers Correio da Manhã and Sol, allegations are flying back and forth between the United Kingdom and Lisbon that Freeport, an English company, paid “backhanders” to build the retail park on disputed land within European Union designated River Tejo Estuary wetlands, which provide a natural habitat for a number of endangered species of water fowl and bird wildlife.
An enquiry into the legal viability of Freeport had been lodged with the Ministério Público (Public Prosecutor) at Montijo and with the Polícia Judiciária in Setúbal but has now been handed to the Central Department of Investigation and Criminal Action (Departamento Central de Investigação e Acção Penal – DCIAP), headed by Cândida Almeida.
Now, police authorities in London have requested that a team be set up to investigate the case. However, the Procurator-General, Pinto Monteiro, has already refuted this idea, according to TSF radio.
So far, the British investigation into Freeport has detected accounts in British offshore banks as well as securities held by companies which have either been traced back to, or have links with, Portugal.
As a consequence, financial information has been collected that points to high sums of money being sent to a Lisbon lawyers office destined to various Portuguese personalities acting as business intermediaries.
Accusations of corruption hurled at José Sócrates during the electoral campaign in 2005 over the granting of planning permission for Freeport ended up in court with a former PJ inspector, José Torrão, being handed an 18-month suspended prison sentence for breaking a confidence.
At the time, the judge said that Torrão, who had photocopied an internal document which was subsequently leaked to the press, had illegally provided confidential information involving “countless people and important individuals”.
The Portuguese company representing Freeport in Portugal, Cunha Vaz, was unavailable for comment at the time of going to press on Wednesday.
Do you have a view on this story? Email: editor@the-resident.com
