Lisbon’s so-called ‘superjudge agreed that he could spend part of his summer holidays there last August, but the luck of former BES ‘boss-of-all-this’ Ricardo Salgado might at last be running thin.
Portugal’s public ministry claims his sumptuous holiday home at Comporta – the resort that used to belong to the disgraced banking family – should never have been built as it is too close to the sea.
According to Expresso, public prosecutors want to see it demolished, along with nine other properties which also fall short of construction licensing prerequisites.
The weekly paper claims that the public ministry is particularly concerned over how Salgado got permission to build his mansion – “valued at over a million euros in 2013” – in the first place. It is in an issue being actively pursued through the local courts with Grândola borough council – though the Espírito Santo family company that owns the houses is apparently trying to save them.
The public prosecutor’s case is that the buildings “do not respect the Sado-Sines coastal plan which prohibits building less than 500 metres from the high-tide mark”. Their construction contravenes Rede Natura 2000 rules, as well as those under REN (national ecological reserves) “which do not allow construction or extension work on ecologically sensitive places, like dunes”.
This is an issue that has been ongoing since BES’ collapse – while the future of Comporta, which owes at least €106 million to State bank CGD, still hangs in the balance.
Meantime, Salgado himself remains free and enjoying ‘assets’ that no longer technically belong to him while on €3 million bail suspected in two cases of institutional corruption (BES and Monte Branco).
