An Olhão ex-mayor and four former councillors finally are to be prosecuted for licensing a villa construction in clear contravention of local planning laws, leading to the owner benefitting financially.
Former mayor Franciso Leal and the Olhão councillors are accused of using their political office illegally to license a villa in Bias do Sul, near Fuseta.
Novo Banco, waiting to be sold a new owner, has reported further losses, €359 million to the end of September.
Banking income has improved, cost have fallen and tax credits helped stem the trading losses but further provisions against bad debt wiped out a trading gain of €3.7 million.
Portugal’s grey economy, the parallel under-the-counter trade in goods and services, remains buoyant, reaching over 27% of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product last year.
The un-taxed economy, which keeps many from poverty despite its illegality, is running at the highest percentage since 2010.
According to a study by the Observatory of Economics and Fraud Management (OBEGEF), there was an increase of 0.7% over 2014, but the trend has been upwards since 1970, according to Óscar Afonso, the Observatory's president.
On July 12th, the European Council decided that Spain and Portugal had failed to take effective action in response to its recommendations to correct their excessive deficits, as required by the EU Stability and Growth Pact.
The ‘excessive deficit’ procedure was therefore put into action for both countries.
Algarve MP José Carlos Barros from the Social Democrats challenged the Minister of Planning and Infrastructure, Pedro Marques, during a State Budget 2017 session to state once-and-for-all whether the Government definitively has dropped the planned railway link to Faro Airport.
The minister's response was of his usually vague variety, stating that the work that the Government is committed to carry out in this area is included in the Ferrovia 2020 Plan and that he will see if this and other proposed works will be carried out in this investment cycle.
A crooked GNR officer on road duties is to be prosecuted for pocketing fines paid by drivers.
The officer, stationed in Faro, is to face six charges for embezzlement, according to a statement from the District Attorney's office in Faro today.
Expats in the EU may be able to gain an associate EU citizenship if the European parliament approves a proposal tabled by an MEP.
The plan would give nationals of a country that has left the EU a status to remain in Europe and retain some of their EU rights, such as the freedoms to live, travel and work in the EU.
Against all odds, billionaire businessman and TV show host Donald John Trump Sr claimed victory in the US presidential election and delivered a victory speech at the New York Hilton to an ecstatic crowd of supporters.
It was an unexpected outcome for the Republican candidate who beat the formidable opponent Hillary Clinton, consistently ahead of him in the polls up and in a much stronger position on the electoral map.
