According to Sapo, the company promoting the project is Varino, whose partners are Avelino Farinha and Custódio Correia, and the private investment planned for the mega-development would be the largest ever made in the autonomous region, states Correio da Manhã.

Pedro Calado, as mayor of Funchal, approved the project. It is this 'triangle', with 'Dubai Madeira' at its centre that is being investigated. The approval of the project to build luxury homes in the west of Funchal was very controversial, but the development has already begun construction. It overlooks the sea and will have 400 flats, ranging from 1 to 4 bedrooms.

According to Custódio Correia, CEO of Socicorreia, the company responsible for the project together with AFA (two of the companies investigated by the MP), construction will not be completed until 2028.

The Public Prosecutor's Office accuses Socicorreia of billing 18 million euros in contracts between July 2011 and January 2024, in a web of corruption that ended up handing over almost all public works in the autonomous region to the AFA group.

The three detainees have been in Lisbon since Wednesday, in the PJ prison. The investigation was postponed for the second time on Monday and the case is no longer covered by judicial secrecy, which is why the lawyers are demanding access to all the evidence collected.