Hi there,
Over the course of 2 years, I have shared in this blog numerous reflections and experiences about Portugal’s corrupt judicial system and at the same time about a society in which swindling and cheating is the norm.
Addressing the lack of transparency, the lack of interest of state agencies and public officials in the face of illegalities and crimes, impunity, the crisis and recurrent strikes, and the constant feeling that justice does not exist in this country.
In this article I want to make a compilation of everything I have written so far, in order to offer a more complete view of the situation we have been living through. We start with the worst thing that could have happened to us in Portugal: in 2022, we bought our house full of illusions and with the hope of a new beginning in this country. However, what seemed like the dream of a lifetime quickly turned into a nightmare.
We were swindled. We were sold a house that was in an illegal situation and that, in reality, could not be sold. But the most alarming thing was to discover that, thanks to the complicity of a corrupt solicitor, the sale went through, even though they knew perfectly well that the property did not meet the legal requirements.
This scam, together with the suffering and the endless paperwork we had to go through, turned our first two years in Portugal into a real ordeal.
As if it wasn’t enough with the scam we had been victims of and having an illegal house that we could not sell, rent, or even legalize, the same solicitor who had been the main responsible for all this, decided to denounce us. The reason? We had left him a negative review, perfectly justified, where we exposed his negligence and fraudulent behaviour. A man who, in addition to not doing his job, who had taken advantage of our good faith, dared to sue us for telling the truth about him.
To top it all off, we were forced to face a lawsuit after he sued us for defamation because of the negative review we had left. I was convinced that we would win, as I had reams of evidence proving that this individual was a fraudster and had committed various illegalities. However, what happened next was even more frightening. We were faced with a corrupt judge who, instead of acting impartially, decided to give the criminal a fair hearing. Not only did she condemn us, but she also forced us to pay him 1,000 euros in compensation for moral damages. An absolutely distorted justice that ended up rewarding the guilty and punishing the victims.
After the unjust conviction of the corrupt justice of the peace, I decided that I could not stand idly by. I sent messages to the Presidency of the Republic, to the Prime Minister, and to a large number of public agencies, hoping that someone would have the will to investigate the corrupt actions of this judge. However, the answer was always the same: only the Council of the Peace Courts had the capacity to investigate this lady and, in the best case, to penalize her. So, I proceeded to denounce her.
To my surprise, I received an official document stating that they had found no irregularities. But the most outrageous thing was that, upon reviewing the response, it became clear that the person in charge of the investigation had not even read the documents we had provided as evidence. It was evident that a real and objective investigation had not been carried out.
Faced with this new disappointment, my lawyer informed me that if I really wanted justice and wanted this judge to be thoroughly investigated, I would have to take the case all the way to the Supreme Court, which involved significant expense. And so, once again, I found myself trapped in a system that is not only unfair, but also financially inaccessible to those who seek to do the right thing.
The criminal João Valente was incredibly sure of himself, because he knew perfectly well how the judicial system works in Portugal. He knew that justice would not be served, because in a system as corrupt as the one in this country, truth and real evidence do not count.
I denounced João Valente to the Order of Solicitors and Enforcement Agents in the hope that he would finally be penalized and disbarred, as he had committed a very serious crime. I was convinced that by presenting the evidence of the myriad of illegalities this individual had committed, justice would finally prevail. However, I received a document detailing all the evidence and the violations committed, only to discover that, in the end, the Order decided to pardon him. The reason? They took refuge in a recent law, instituted after the Pope’s visit to Portugal, which pardons those who commit their first crime. In this way, the law protected a criminal, nullifying any hope of justice and demonstrating, once again, that in Portugal, impunity is still the norm.
https://www.barbierika.com/en/2024/05/16/osae-the-public-body-that-protects-criminals
After a year and a half of constant struggle, we finally managed to introduce the complaint against all parties involved in the house scam. The complaint was filed in the Civil Court of Porto; however, after some time of waiting, the judge decided to refer the action to the Court of Felgueiras.
One of my many complaints made to the Presidency of the Republic and to the Prime Minister was finally referred to the Public Prosecutor’s Office. Fortunately, we met a prosecutor who, unlike many others, was eager to work and to really find out what had happened. This prosecutor contacted us, called me personally to come with my lawyer, and, after reviewing the situation, asked my lawyer to draw up a detailed document explaining everything that had happened, framing everything as a scam.
This step was crucial, as a scam is a criminal offense, not just a civil matter. If we managed to frame the case under that category, the Public Prosecutor’s Office would remain in charge of the process, and it would be the Judicial Police who would carry out the investigation. Thus, in addition to the process we already had open in the Civil Court, a new avenue of investigation would be opened, this time in the criminal sphere, which gave us new hope.
In closing, I want to make it clear that everything we have had to suffer as a result of being swindled out of the illegal sale of the house has been much more than just a scam. The emotional, economic and personal damage that this has meant for us is something that only those who have been through a similar experience can understand. But we also had to deal with an incompetent and corrupt judicial system that, far from giving us the support we needed, has ended up complicating the situation even more.
The criminal solicitor who was primarily responsible for the sale of the house has not only evaded his responsibility, but has pursued and harassed us, even going so far as to take money from us, despite being guilty. There have been too many things together: the Justice of the Peace Courts, the inefficiency of the OSAE, and a long etcetera of obstacles that have only demonstrated the lack of ethics and professionalism of the institutions in Portugal.
This is only the beginning of our story because our journey is not only about a house, it is about an entire system that has failed us at every step.