The former mayor of Vila Real de Santo António says that all accusations leveled against him of illegally authorising several buildings and developments are "lies and slander" and today reassured property owners that nothing is going to happen that will affect their properties.
António Murta, denies that there were any violations of the Municipal Master Plan when he was mayor and says that all the projects listed this week as being illegally authorised "had the favourable opinion of all the competent authorities" and "were approved with the vote of (current mayor) Luís Gomes," who then was an opposition councillor.
The row broke out when the Tribunal Administrativo e Fiscal de Loulé this week ruled that several property developments authorised in the years before a change of mayor in 2005 had been granted permission illegally and that some of the buildings in question should be removed, involving a demolition and compensation bill "of around €100 million," according to current mayor Luis Gomes..
The court now has decreed that much the land in question should be returned to its original state, with the exception of the Varandas do Guadiana apartment buildings overlooking the river towards Ayamonte in as these have been the subject of a previous court case and have been included retrospecively in the city's master plan.
Properties at the Monte Rei Golf and Country Club also are affected as are buildings in an urbanisation at Lota beach, a villa in Vila Nova de Cacela and two buildings in Monte Gordo all approved by Murta's wife who was head of the council's planning department.
In an interview published today in Jornal do Algarve, the former mayor issued a message to property owners, "It is natural that people are concerned about their property, but they can stay calm because there is absolutely nothing (going to happen.)"
Murta is trying to re-launch his Socialist Party political career with a bid again to become VRSA mayor next autumn and claims that he had not received any notification from the court, "I have not been notified of any of the situations described, I'm not accused of anything and am not aware of anything."
As for the events prior to 2005, "I had no majority in the House, so I had no power to approve, alone, whatever it was. All work processes had to go a Council meeting for approval unlike during the mandates of Luís Gomes who always has had the power to approve anything because he has a majority. In my time it was not so, everything was dependent on the votes of the opposition," recalls the former Socialist mayor.
In fact Luis Gomes was not on the council throughout most of the problem approvals. For the ones where he was present as a councillor, he either abstained or voted in favour only when there was a positive technical summary.
See also:
VRSA council faces €100 million in compensation claims for illegally authorised buildings
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