Chega deputy Filipe Melo, who is also vice-president of the Assembly of the Republic, is accused of not paying loans worth 9 thousand euros. According to Correio da Manhã, the complaint was filed with the Judicial Court of the District of Braga and was presented by Joaquim Pinto do Vale, leader of the Barcelos municipality of that party.
According to the newspaper, Filipe Melo asked Joaquim Pinto do Vale for money, totaling 7 thousand euros, on three occasions: on April 11, 2023, he asked for 2 thousand euros; on August 25, 2023 he asked for 2,500 euros and in October 2024 he asked for another 2,500 euros. In the same complaint, the deputy elected by Braga is also accused of having received, on June 28, 2024, another 2 thousand euros, on loan, from a woman who, according to the newspaper, works as a domestic worker in Joaquim Pinto do Vale’s house.
According to the complaint, the money was never returned to them. The complainant recalls that “the economic difficulties [de Filipe Melo] are public knowledge.”
Filipe Melo admitted to the newspaper Observador, in 2022, that he had accumulated debts worth 120 thousand euros but guaranteed that these were settled and the problem “overcame”. The CM also recalls that Filipe Melo was ordered to pay 80 thousand euros, following three execution processes, and had part of his deputy’s salary seized for a debt of 15 thousand euros to Colégio João Paulo II, in Braga.