The Secretary of State for the Environment, Carlos Martins, has repaid the fiddled housing subsidy that he has been claiming, while claiming he has done nothing wrong.
"By decision of the Secretary of State for the Environment, Carlos Martins, was determined to return the housing allowance money that had received from the beginning of his government functions," read a ‘clarification’ from the office of the Minister of the Environment.
The Secretary of State was claiming that he lived in a recently acquired house in Santa Luzia, Tavira when he was living in his property in Cascais.
The fiddle was made public by Expresso which revealed last weekend that Martins had bought the house in Tavira in November 2015 when he took office.
Martins used this address to claim a housing allowance of a net €753 per month as government appointees are entitled to a housing allowance if they have permanent residence more than 150 kilometers from Lisbon.
Far from holding his hands up and agreeing he has been caught out, Martins says he is repaying the money while considering the situation "unfair" and is only doing so to spare damage to his image and so he can get on with his work.
Martins says that from today, he is not going to claim the allowance but mentions nothing about repaying the money so far claimed.
Carlos Martins was appointed CEO of Águas do Algarve in July 2015, replacing the fiscally dubious Isabel Soares, and started a "negotiation process" to buy a house in the region in September last year.
Martins informed Finanças of his Santa Luzia address and also changed his driving license and citizen’s card to reflect his new Algarve abode as from November 9th 2015.
On November 26th Martins took office as Secretary of State for the Environment and switched to living in a property in Murches, Cascais while receiving the housing allowance to which he believes he has an right since his permanent residence is in Tavira.
