The vice-presidency of Vila Nova de Gaia City Council will be held by councilwoman Marina Mendes, after the arrest and preventive detention of the vice-president, Patrocínio Azevedo, in the scope of Operation Babel, announced today the president.
“I decided to transfer the duties of vice-president to Dr. Marina Mendes, number 3 on the municipal list and responsible for the areas of Education and Social Action,” said today the mayor of Gaia, Eduardo Vítor Rodrigues, in a statement read before the start of the public meeting of the municipal executive.
The deputy mayor of Vila Nova de Gaia, Patrocínio Azevedo, was remanded in custody as part of the Operation Babel investigation, the Oporto Criminal Investigation Court (TIC) announced Friday.
This main process of Operation Babel focuses on “the vitiation of rules and instruction of urban licensing processes in favor of developers associated with projects of high density and magnitude, being at stake real estate interests in the order of 300 million euros, by offering and accepting pecuniary counterparts.
Operation Babel is concerned with crimes of receiving or offering an undue advantage, active and passive corruption, prevarication, and abuse of power, committed by and on behalf of an official or holder of political office.