Borba. Ombudsman completes compensation proceedings

The Ombudsman, Maria Lúcia Amaral, concluded the proceedings for compensation to the relatives and heirs of the five mortal victims of the collapse of the Municipal Road 255, which took place on November 19, 2018, in the borough of Borba.

There were 19 applicants who submitted compensation claims to this state body. They all accepted the proposals put forward by the Ombudsman. Once the terms of acceptance of the victims’ relatives were received, they were sent to the Prime Minister in the first week of June to proceed to the respective payment.

In total, the compensation to be paid by the State is around 1.6 million euros. In the case of work accidents, the pension due by the respective insurer is added.

As the head of the independent State body that defends citizens’ rights, the Ombudsman accepted the request of the Prime Minister to lead the process of compensation for the families of the mortal victims of the demolition of Municipal Highway 255 under a mechanism extrajudicial, voluntary membership.

As a result of this decision, on January 9, the Diário da República published a resolution of the Council of Ministers that assigned to the Ombudsman the tasks of establishing the criteria for compensation until January 31, 2019, to establish the deadlines and procedures necessary to if it requires compensation and to determine the amount to be paid in each specific case.

For reasons of fairness and with appropriate adaptations, the Ombudsman decided that the compensation would be calculated by closely following the criteria set at the time of the recent compensation procedure for the relatives of the victims of the major fires of 2017.