THE MINISTRY of Justice has announced that 40 police agents from the Divisão de Trânsito (DT) PSP police agents are to be investigated as part of a Polícia Judiciária (PJ) inquiry. The decision was made after several complaints, which indicated that the policemen had been stealing money and handing out illegal receipts when towing vehicles in Lisbon.
The first reported incident allegedly occurred when a Lisbon resident had his car towed and was fined 60 euros by a DT police agent. He claims that the police agent didn’t give him a receipt and kept his vehicle documents. In another incident, dating back to April 15 of this year, two DT agents towed a Ford Mondeo from Rua Gomes Freire to the Marquês de Pombal car pound.
The owner of the vehicle also claims that he had to pay 60 euros to release his vehicle, that the police agents gave him a receipt for less than the amount he paid and again kept the vehicle documents, saying that they needed them to fill out documents. The officers promised the papers would be posted back, but they never were. On April 24, the car was towed once again. This time the owner could not release his car, as he didn’t have his documents. The investigation continues.
