Paulo Cunha / Lusa
New criminal investigation. At issue is an alleged discrepancy between the value of the work and the value that appears on the invoices.
Luís Montenegro’s house, with six floors and 829.6 m2, is once again being investigated by the Public Ministry.
Porto’s Department of Investigation and Criminal Action (DIAP) had filed a criminal case in 2024, also about this house. Tax benefits were suspected.
In this first process, the fact that the work was classified as urban rehabilitation was investigated, which gave it the right to discounts on VAT (6% instead of 23%) and IMI. But the benefits were cool, the research defined.
But a second criminal investigation is underway. According to Expresso, it was opened last year. There are suspicions of tax fraud: at issue is an alleged discrepancy between the value of the work and the value that appears on the invoices.
The contractor invoiced Luís Montenegro 215 thousand euros for building the house. But the prime minister’s office responded to Expresso, three months ago, that it had spent triple the amount: almost 640 thousand euros between 2016 and 2021, including the demolition of the ruin.
Last month, January, two witnesses were heard: Rui Mota Oliveira, an engineer who built the house, and José Marco da Cunha Rodrigues, a construction worker who demolished the ruin that was at that location.
The Attorney General’s Office confirmed that an investigation is underway at the Porto Regional DIAP.
Luís Montenegro and the two witnesses mentioned did not provide any clarification to the newspaper.
