Two building inspectors in Olhão formally have been accused of demanding €4,000 from a property owner in return for looking the other way over irregularities.
The Faro prosecutor has now filed charges against the two council employees for accepting bribes and extortion and the pair are to face trial.
The facts date back to March 2016 when the two accused asked a local property owner for the money or he would be fined for unlicensed work.
Later searches uncovered €33,000 in cash at the home of one of the inspectors.
“Using their professional status, they would extort money from third-parties to carry out acts that went against their duties,” the prosecution alleges.
The employees have been suspended and have been banned from contacting each other and from setting foot in the town hall or any other council premises.
Others who have succumbed to this scam were asked to come forward but the specimen charge is enough for the prosecutor to go to court even if others have been afraid of the consequences of owning up.
Olhão mayor, António Pina, said at the time that he hoped that the evidence is conclusive, adding that it is “important to fight corruption in public services.”
