Former Mayor of Mortágua accused of paying 52 thousand euros per wall already done

Former laterca José Júlio Norte is accused of prevarication of holder of political office, abuse of powers and falsification of documents. An alleged favor of the deadly contractor is at stake.

The former mayor of Mortágua, José Júlio Norte (PSD), began this week to be tried at the Viseu Court, accused of having violated the rules of public hiring to favor the deadly construction company. At issue is the payment of 52 359.88 euros to the company for a work already executed illegally months before the formalization of the contract.

According to the Public Prosecution Service, in 2015, while the company Mortobra carried out works in the “Mortágua Glass”, José Júlio Norte will have asked verbally from the construction company’s technical director to build a land support wall in Manuel Lourenço Ferreira Industrial Park. The work, in the initial value of about 38 thousand euros, was completed in January 2016, without any competition procedureviolating the legislation in force on public hiring.

Only months later, and with the wall already completed, the then mayor, with the collaboration of the vice-mayor and a division head, opened a direct adjustment contest, allegedly with the purpose of legitimize the award To the death, in a process where everyone involved knew at the outset who would be the award. The company would end, in June 2016, an invoice of 52 359.88 euros referring to the work already performed, says.

José Júlio Norte, who led the municipality between 2013 and 2021, is responsible for three crimes: prevarication of political office holder, abuse of powers and falsification of documents. In the process are still accused eight other peopleamong them the legal representatives of the Mortobra and Edibest companies, also defendants.

In the first session of the trial, the former attract and five other defendants chose not to make statements. Already Rui Ferreira de Oliveira, managing partner of Edibest, and Nuno Miguel Matos dos Santos, technical director of Mortobra, agreed to be heard by the Judges Collective.