Palmela, Setubal, Portugal, Jan. 14, 2026 (Lusa) - A group of victims of an alleged property scam in the Portuguese district of Palmela, in the Setubal region, which is said to have caused losses of millions of euros to more than 120 families, has called on the government to improve laws in the sector and safeguard the interests of buyers.
The appeal comes from a group of creditors representing some of the more than 120 families who paid large sums as a deposit for the purchase of property from Sociedade Comercial Diagramamotriz, which has since been declared insolvent, in deals brokered by estate agents such as Remax Expogroup Trust and Bluecoast.
The case, which is being investigated by the Setúbal Judicial Police (PJ), concerns the breach of promissory contracts for the purchase and sale of properties in the Palmela Dreams, Alcaide Villas, Urbanização de Santa Teresinha (lots 14/15/16), Aires Dreams Living and Ferra Cinta developments in the municipality of Palmela, Setúbal region.
According to Ana Cardoso Pires, who represents a group of injured parties who have already come forward as creditors and who has also been appointed by the court as chair of the Creditors' Committee, "the aim is to demand that people be compensated for their losses and to raise awareness among the Government so that it makes a series of changes to the law in order to prevent fraud such as that which occurred in various real estate developments in the district of Palmela".
"At a time when the government is preparing far-reaching changes to the Law on Urbanisation and Construction (RJUE), we believe that the new legislation should be accompanied by robust mechanisms for supervision, automatic blocking and buyer protection," she said.
According to a report by the insolvency administrator of Diagramamotriz, dated 29 December 2025, that company "raised more than €17 million in deposits from prospective buyers, who saw their expectations of acquiring the properties dashed by the fraudulent actions of the insolvent company in the person of its manager, Romeu Joel Marçalo da Silva".
Ana Cardoso Pires, who is also one of the victims, regrets that Bluecoast and Remax Expogroup did not take the trouble to verify the legal status of the properties, some of which "were sold (...) twice, three times and one of them four times", while criticising the Palmela municipal council for its alleged "lack of supervision of the Palmela Dreams development".
Faced with these criticisms of the alleged lack of supervision of the construction work on that development - which began in 2022, two years before the Simplex Urbanístico came into force - the Palmela local authority has not clarified whether it carried out any supervision.
In a written response to the Lusa news agency, the Palmela municipal council points out that it has been warning about the dangers of this system of simplifying urban planning licensing and control.
"The Palmela municipal council (...) has been warning of the dangers of this system, which, under the pretext of simplifying and reducing the bureaucracy of urban planning licensing and control processes (...), has further expanded the range of operations that are sufficient with the submission of prior notification or are even exempt from prior control," the local authority emphasises.
This simplification and reduction of bureaucracy "was accentuated by Simplex Urbanístico, but was already provided for by law, albeit to a lesser extent, in previous versions of the Legal Regime for Urbanisation and Construction (RJUE)", it adds.
The local authority considers, however, that the procedures at its disposal "have no impact or relevance in resolving the problems that exist between the developer Diagramamotriz and the prospective buyers".
It also points out that "all parties involved in the proceedings have been notified of the likely expiry of the urban development operation" and that, on 27 November, "the insolvency administrator of Diagramamotriz informed the local authority of the filing of the termination case in court, for the benefit of the building transfer estate".
As for other real estate developments in the district where there are also suspicions of irregularities and possible fraud, the Palmela council has announced that it will reject a request to change the permit for the Palmela Dreams II and III (Ferra Cintra, S. Julião) and that a report has already been made to the public prosecutor's office for the crime of falsifying three certificates relating to the Alcaide Villas development in Venda do Alcaide.
According to the local authority, an order has also been issued rejecting the request for legalisation of the Santa Teresinha development in Aires.
The Creditors' Committee considers that "the scale of the [fraudulent] scheme is not solely the result of the individual actions of a developer" and that it was only possible due to "loopholes in the current legal framework", namely due to the "lack of mandatory registration of promissory contracts and the absence of mandatory trust accounts for the amounts paid" by the prospective buyers.
"At this moment, the losses of the injured parties who have already become creditors amount to more than €26 million (a sum calculated based on the return of double the purchase deposits), but it is known that there are more than 120 families who have been defrauded in this real estate deal and that there may be even more, so the losses could be much higher than this amount," Ana Cardoso Pires told Lusa, lamenting that there has not yet been any intervention in this process by the Institute of Public Markets, Real Estate and Construction (IMPIC), whose mission is to regulate and supervise the construction and real estate sector.
The group of victims is calling for "the opening of a public debate on the regime of promissory contracts, real estate mediation, the movement of capital and the link between the tax system and the protection of the right to housing". It also points out that, in addition to the losses they have already suffered, the victims will still have to pay the tax authorities capital gains relating to transactions that never actually took place.
On 20 November 2025, the Judicial Police (PJ - the country's main criminal investigation agency) detained the owner of the commercial company Diagramamotriz, Romeu Joel Marçalo da Silva, who was subject to periodically report to the authorities with his identity and residence details, having been charged with aggravated fraud in connection with business conducted through the aforementioned real estate developments in the district of Palmela.
According to the PJ's investigation, Diagramamotriz entered into promissory purchase and sale agreements with potential buyers, receiving a deposit and, in some cases, almost the entire value of the properties before their completion.
The Lusa news agency tried unsuccessfully to contact Diagramamotriz, Remax Expogroup and Bluecoast for comment.
GR/AYLS // AYLS
Lusa
