The Judiciary Police (PJ) announced this Wednesday, February 25, that it launched, in the districts of Lisbon and Funchal, an operation to combat fraud in the allocation of European funds destined for reforestation projects in Madeira, with damage estimated at more than 3.6 million euros. As part of this operation, seven defendants were charged, five of them individuals and two others legal entities.
As part of Operation Terra Queimada, 26 search and seizure warrants were executed, carried out by 58 inspectors and 15 scientific police specialists, with the participation of two European delegated prosecutors.
“During the course of the investigation, management and capital control relationships were detected between beneficiary entities and suppliers, within the scope of projects co-financed by the Portugal 2020 program, which could lead to situations of conflict of interest”, says the PJ.
According to this police, “the parties involved are entities that benefit from operations relating to the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD), through which payment of 3,829,345.27 euros was requested and approval and payment of incentives totaling at least 3,675,231.87 euros were obtained.”
As indicated by the PJ, the facts under investigation are likely to include the practice of crimes of qualified fraud in obtaining a subsidy, economic participation in a business, improper receipt of an advantage, corruption and laundering.
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