Bishop of Porto, D. Manuel Linda
The houses will have been donated on the condition of being used for social purposes, but it is not known where the documents are. Two of the dwellings are already being used for local accommodation, with prices of 100 euros per night.
In Burgães Street, in Porto, a set of nine houses known as “Island of Olives” became the epicenter of a controversy that can lead the prosecutor to open a harmful management investigation of the Heritage of the Diocese of Porto.
The properties, which were donated to the church in order to serve the poor, were sold for just 130 thousand euros To the company Mário Moreira & José Salgado, now associated with multiple real estate businesses with the diocese.
The houses were sold in 2021, when only three of the nine were still inhabited. Elderly and vulnerable residents were forced to leave. According to the prosecutor, part of the alienated heritage was donated to the church without heirs, with clauses that determined their social use – Clauses that now seem to have been ignored or lost, since the original donations of the donations are allegedly nonexistent, reports the.
Two of the houses have already been transformed into local accommodation, with daily prices that around 100 euros. The initial investment will have been recovered, and the other dwellings continue to rehabilitate. It is estimated that the current market value of the set exceeds two million euros.
The company Mário Moreira & José Salgado refuses to comment on the details of the various agreements with the church. “I don’t comment on businessneither these nor others, ”he said to Correio da Manhã.
The diocese, in turn, under the leadership of Bishop D. Manuel Linda, has also avoided responding to growing criticism and requests for clarification. An official statement maintains that all sales were performed “for the market price” And with “transparency”, but silence has been the position adopted before journalists.
Cases such as businessman Mikael Dionísio, who tried to buy a church property to keep his restaurant at Largo de S. Domingos, are raising even more irregularities. The transaction was CANCELED NO Last Minute By the diocese, with payment requirements that made the business unfeasible.
