Duarte Pio Foundation sued for garage

A Dutch businessman took the D. Manuel II Foundation, belonging to Duarte Pio de Bragança, to court because of the alteration of a parking space in a property he was about to acquire. The legal battle, which has already lasted three years, was revealed by CNN Portugal and is based on the purchase of a T2 on Duques de Bragança street, part of the real estate assets of the Duke of Bragança that are currently ceded to foreign real estate developments. In response to the news, the Portuguese Royal House shared, through social media, that Duarte Pio "had no involvement in the negotiations, marketing, or the celebration of the contracts related to the fractions of the development." The case is related to the several buildings inherited by Duarte Pio and that belong to the D. Manuel II Foundation, an institution that manages them for social purposes. An investigation by the magazine Sábado in 2022 had already revealed the various "barter" agreements made between the foundation and real estate developers, with the aim of carrying out rehabilitation works that the family alleged did not have the means to undertake. Two of these buildings belonging to the foundation, on Duques de Bragança street, which include numbers 6-6C and 8-10, were ceded to TAN Holdings, an Italian investment fund that also did business with D. Manuel II in other addresses. In the case of Duques de Bragança, the agreement provided for the sale of 65% of the buildings for the value of 366,071 — the development was divided into 17 fractions, with 11 being marketed by TAN in the luxury building Bragança 10, and six passing to the foundation, the magazine revealed. According to the documents consulted by CNN Portugal, in 2020, when the development was still in the development phase, the businessman Rogier Verhoeven, executive director of the real estate developer based in Hong Kong Shun Tak Holdings, initiated the purchase process with the D. Manuel II Foundation and the commercial company Splendidbrigade, linked to Amazing Revelations, a company that belonged to TAN. The purchase agreement value was 800 thousand euros, with a deposit of 400 thousand paid at the time of the deed and the other 400 thousand to be financed. The property in question is an autonomous fraction, designated by the letter L, a T2 on the third floor, with a parking space on the 0th floor and a storage room on the -1st floor. Change in parking position led to court proceedings The problems began in September 2023, during the preparation of the deed. The businessman became aware of changes in the designation and characteristics of the fraction. The main one is the location of the parking space which moved from the 0th floor and the storage room on the -1st floor, both to the -2nd floor. The judicial documents reveal that the businessman was informed that the change was due to the fact that during the excavation works, "an archaeological structure was found that the Directorate-General of Cultural Heritage requested to be preserved". Verhoeven contests this version, alleging that a representative was at the property and consulted the deeds to justify that the project was not altered and that the originally agreed parking space would be associated with another fraction. Verhoeven sued the D. Manuel II Foundation and Splendidbrigade, alleging "bad faith in trying to impose the purchase of any property with characteristics that are not agreed upon," and seeks compensation of 800 thousand euros, double the deposit amount. As justification, he claims that the deed was marked, that he received tax payment slips, and that the foundation and the company accused him of "refusing to sign the deed," stating that they would "keep the amounts received as a deposit." In a post on Instagram, the Portuguese Royal House says that "the Dom Manuel II Foundation did not receive any amount from the prospective buyers." It also states that Duarte Pio de Bragança "had no involvement in the negotiations, marketing, or the celebration of the contracts related to the fractions of the development." The text published by the Portuguese Royal House explains that "the development in question was carried out under a partnership in which the developer was solely responsible for its development, execution, and completion," highlighting that "the Dom Manuel II Foundation intervened exclusively in the capacity of owner of the properties where the development was carried out, authorizing that the future owner of the fractions could also celebrate preliminary purchase and sale agreements," further alleging that this intervention was "expressly provided for in the preliminary agreements made" and that the "prospective buyers accepted" the conditions that the foundation would not assume "any responsibility" "for any contractual defaults." Splendidbrigade contests, according to the documents revealed by CNN, alleging that possible changes to the project and the characteristics of the future fraction were provided for, that only the existence of a "private parking space" was guaranteed, and that "the change was a mere pretext invoked by the authors to try to distance themselves from the deal." The company also requests compensation for bad faith against the businessman. [Annie has known the Minister of the Interior of Cuba for a long time, but the passion that unites them is relatively recent. It is at this time that Zé Manel, as she calls him, will be implicated in one of Fidel Castro's leadership's greatest scandals. The "Ochoa Case" involves drugs, executions, imprisonment, and the most notorious drug trafficker in the world: Pablo Escobar. You can already hear the fifth episode of "The Scandals of a Revolutionary," the new Podcast Plus from The Observer. 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