Mayor of Oeiras says searches are related to municipal company's business with Mozambique

The Mayor of Oeiras stated today that the searches carried out by the PJ in the municipality refer to business between the municipal company Municípia and the Government of Mozambique regarding cartography and cadastral work in Nampula.

“It concerns the activity of this company, in relation to business that was carried out in Mozambique, in Nampula, for the Government of Mozambique, financed by the World Bank, and in relation to which there were reports, two years ago, about possible illegalities in the management of the company”, Isaltino Morais told journalists.

According to the mayor, following this news and also complaints about possible illegalities that reached the Oeiras Council, the council itself “carried out an external audit, which was presented to the Council and the Municipal Assembly” about half a year ago.

The audit, according to the mayor, concluded “that, although there were some formal irregularities”, but, “from a substantial point of view, there was no illegality”.

“From what I understand, there are two dimensions here: One of them has to do with this activity in Nampula, which was a cartography and cadastre work that they carried out for the Government of Mozambique. Then there are some contracts with the municipality in the area of ​​cartography and information technology. I think that is what is being investigated”, said the mayor.

The Oeiras City Council, in the district of Lisbon, is today being searched for “suspicions of corruption”, a source from the Judicial Police (PJ) told the Lusa news agency.

Contacted by Lusa, a source from Oeiras City Council confirmed that the searches began at 9:00 am and are related to contracts signed with the municipal company Municípia – Cartography and Information Systems Company.

In a statement, the PJ confirmed searches at the Oeiras and Grândola City Councils and at companies in the tourism sector, for “possible crimes of malfeasance, passive corruption, active corruption, economic participation in business and abuse of powers and violation of urban planning rules”.