“The investigation is ongoing and there are no defendants,” an official PGR source told Lusa.

According to the PGR, this investigation “investigates facts that may be part of the crime of qualified theft”.

At the beginning of October, the Chamber of Lousã filed a criminal complaint with the Public Prosecutor's Office against a logging company for alleged illegal cutting of municipal trees in the village of Silveira, in the Serra da Lousã, in an area of ​​the Natura 2000 Network.

Also in October, seven environmental associations criticized, in a joint statement, the clear-cuts of trees carried out, which “reveal chronic nature conservation problems” in the country.

The seven associations, in a statement sent to the Lusa agency, warned: “of the consequences of weak nature conservation policies in Portugal, evident this time in the case of the clear-cutting of trees in the Lousã mountain range, in the middle of the National Ecological Reserve and Natura 2000 Network”.

The company responsible for the cuts stated that the entire procedure was legal and denied that any rules had been violated.

Questioned by the Lusa agency, one of the company's managing partners, António Bandeira, explained that the company did not commit any illegality during the operation.

The cutting began at the beginning of October and the company was expected to cut “between 24 and 25 hectares” of land with eucalyptus, pine and mimosa trees, he explained, having chosen to suspend the operation “almost two weeks ago”, on the company's initiative.

According to António Bandeira, the wood that was cut “was purchased from another company, which, in turn, purchased it from individuals, who owned the land”, noting that he has the contract and invoice for such transactions in his possession.

As for the municipal land, the company's managing partner explained that no trees were cut down by the municipality, highlighting that, when the cut area overlapped with the area that the municipality claimed to be its own, it was found that the company did not he had cut down “a single tree on the ground” of the Chamber.

Regarding the cutting on another owner's land, António Bandeira explained that the right to cut wood was sold, before the property changed hands.