The Dilomi Case: What Public Records Showed Before the First Payments

In May 2026, Portuguese TV channel CMTV broadcast a "Grande Jornal Investigação" report on Dilomi - Sustainable Houses, Lda, a modular housing company based in Vila Real. Several customers told the report that they signed contracts, paid significant tranches, and after nearly two years still have no house and have not recovered their money.

As a Portuguese tool that cross-references public records on construction companies, we went back to check what was accessible in official sources from June 2024 onwards, when the first contracts were signed. This article is the timeline of Dilomi and of the same director's previous company, ML VIRTUAL Unipessoal Lda, with every fact anchored to a public record.

The Dilomi case in the CMTV report (May 2026)

The figures cited in the report are heavy. A 67-year-old customer from Valnogueiras paid approximately 48,000 euros for a 97,000 euro home. Another customer paid 52,000 for a 122,000 euro home. A young couple paid 25,000 to start building a 170,000 euro home. In every case, the work did not progress, the excuses kept changing (employee problems, sick leaves, waiting on documents), and the director eventually stopped answering calls.

Joining the customers are former employees who report unpaid wages and unregularised contracts, with proceedings before the Labour Court. The report also includes the testimony of a former employee of an earlier company of the same director, ML VIRTUAL Unipessoal Lda, who, according to her account, "went insolvent".

Dilomi's official response to CMTV, communicated by message after the company refused to grant an in-person interview, was the following: "the company is operating, currently with 16 ongoing projects. We confirm that there are 5 customers who chose to unilaterally rescind their contracts."

Was it visible in 2024? The central question

According to the CMTV report, the first customer contacts with Dilomi reportedly took place in the summer of 2024, with payments being made from that period onwards. Nearly two years later, with the report out, the natural question is: was it visible?

To answer that, we went to the same public records that were available in 2024. CITIUS, the Portuguese Ministry of Justice Publications Platform, public enforcement lists, and civil court distribution data. All free, all accessible, but spread across four different systems that, in practice, almost nobody cross-references before signing a contract with a construction company.

The answer: public records contained enough visible information to justify heightened caution before the payments. We are not saying the outcome was inevitable. We are saying the information existed, in official sources, and would have changed the conversation that took place in that office if anyone had cross-referenced it in time.

A company can hold a valid licence and not appear on the Tax Authority debtor lists, yet still display public signals that justify extreme caution. That is why checking a single source is not enough to verify a construction company.

The Dilomi case: a three-block timeline

So the reader can see what was visible at each decision point, we split the facts by time window.

Block 1 - Visible in June 2024 (before the first payments)

Block 2 - Appeared during the works (October 2024 to October 2025)

This window matters because it shows what kept becoming visible while customers were still being asked to pay further tranches.

Block 3 - Appears today (2026)

Five public signals about Dilomi visible in June 2024

Dilomi was incorporated on 17 June 2024. According to the CMTV report, customers signed contracts in the period that followed. Five signals in the public records, at the time those decisions were being made:

1. Historical personal insolvency of Dilomi's director

Carlos Manuel Lopes Marques, Dilomi's director and majority shareholder, appears in CITIUS records associated with a personal insolvency proceeding dated October 2014, publicly identifiable for more than ten years. An old insolvency does not, on its own, mean current risk. But combined with everything that follows, it is the first piece of context that changes how the next signals are read.

2. Dilomi recently created, without any public construction track record

Dilomi had little time of existence when, according to the CMTV report, customers started paying tranches. No balance sheet filed, no accounts deposited, no completed works on record under the company's name to assess capacity.

And there is a detail that usually escapes even those who do look: in the public records we cross-referenced, we found no prior track record of the director in the construction sector. The previous company (ML VIRTUAL) has the activity code (CAE) 62090 - "Other activities related to information technologies", consistent with the e-commerce activity described by CMTV (the "Mercado Livre Virtual"). Dilomi, with CAE 43992, appears to be the first construction company we could associate with this director in these records. If construction activity exists outside the public records consulted, we have no way to verify it.

A recent company in construction is not, on its own, reason to walk away. It is reason to demand a lot more (references of previous works in the directors' names, bank guarantees, milestone-verified payments, escrow) before releasing money.

It is also worth noting that, being a freshly incorporated company, at that stage there were no deposited accounts or public financial history that would allow assessment of assets, equity, or operational capacity. That is the relevant point, not the nominal value of the share capital.

3. Public enforcement against the director's previous company, six days earlier

On 11 June 2024, a public enforcement proceeding was distributed against ML VIRTUAL Unipessoal Lda, the company of which Carlos Manuel Lopes Marques is the sole shareholder, at the Vila Nova de Famalicão Enforcement Court.

Six days later, on 17 June, Dilomi is incorporated. At the same physical address as ML VIRTUAL (Rua Costa, Armazém nº 4, Vila Real).

This is the strongest signal in the set. Changing the corporate name, opening a new company with clean capital, and continuing to operate from the same address with the same director, is consistent with a pattern known as a phoenix company: a new entity created after problems in a previous one, with continuity of people, address, or activity. The information that two tax numbers share the same address and the same director is public. Cross-referencing it with the state of the previous company is what usually does not get done.

4. Signs that accounting activity at ML VIRTUAL had stopped

ML VIRTUAL last filed accounts on 2 September 2022, for the 2021 financial year.

In June 2024, the 2022 financial year was already in breach of its filing deadline (the legal deadline is 15 July of the following year, in this case 15/07/2023, already past). The 2023 financial year had its deadline closing that same summer, with no public indication of submission.

Companies that stop filing accounts are usually in end-of-activity, in a grey zone, or on the way to cessation. When a company stops filing accounts and the director opens a new company at the same address, it is reasonable to ask questions that go beyond those of an initial meeting.

5. Same physical address: Dilomi and ML VIRTUAL in the same warehouse

In February 2022, ML VIRTUAL changed its address to "Rua do Costa, Armazém n.º 4, Vila Real". Dilomi was incorporated in June 2024 at "Rua Costa, Armazém nº 4, Vila Real". It is literally the same warehouse.

On its own, this is not a problem (a family may operate multiple companies from the same headquarters). Combined with the other signals, it is consistent with a pattern of continuing activity under a new corporate name.

Later records reinforced the initial signals

Reading these five signals was not speculation. The months that followed aligned, one by one, with what each signal pointed to.

ML VIRTUAL accumulated three more public enforcements in October and November 2024 (Entroncamento, Lisbon, Maia), with the court recording "no assets found" in all of them, for an approximate total of 49 thousand euros in outstanding debt, on top of the 2,988 € from the June enforcement. It has since been declared insolvent in the public records.

Dilomi, throughout 2026, saw eight civil proceedings distributed against it: six creditor enforcements and two Labour Court actions in Vila Real (employees suing the company over unpaid wages, in line with what former employees describe to CMTV). The amounts involved in these eight proceedings add up to more than 21 thousand euros, not counting the contracts unfulfilled with end customers.

Important note on coverage: the civil court distribution data we cross-reference is only available from October 2025 onwards. Civil proceedings prior to that date are not covered by this analysis. Our coverage does not allow us to exclude proceedings distributed between June 2024 and October 2025. The eight visible proceedings represent, in practice, only the most recent window.

Other known companies of the same director

This section was added to the article after its initial publication, based on the official ERC (Portuguese media regulator) registry and our own director-to-companies cross-reference database.

Carlos Manuel Lopes Marques is also the director of a third company: IMODILOMI, LDA (tax number 518753042), incorporated on 22 May 2025. IMODILOMI is the entity that owns the television channel VilaTV, according to the public registry of the Portuguese Media Regulator (ERC).

In ERC record nº 128169 (direct query to the public registry), VilaTV is listed as an online programme service, regional in scope, with definitive registration on 22 August 2025. The "Designação Social do Proprietário" (proprietor's corporate name) on file is Imodilomi, Lda., with Carlos Manuel Lopes Marques listed as both Editor and Director of the channel. The newsroom address registered with the ERC is Rua do Costa, nº 5, 5000-105 Vila Real.

This address is on the same street as the other two companies of the same director. Dilomi and ML VIRTUAL operate (or operated) at "Rua Costa, Armazém nº 4, Vila Real". The VilaTV newsroom seat, according to the ERC record, is at "Rua do Costa, nº 5", on the same street. This was not cross-referenced in earlier reporting on the case, but the information is public and directly searchable on the ERC portal.

IMODILOMI's current ObraXRAY score is 71/100 (compatible with "Active - With records"). The analysis does not currently reveal signals comparable to those of ML VIRTUAL (declared insolvency) or Dilomi (eight civil proceedings distributed in 2026). We include this third company to complete the picture: the director-to-companies cross-reference of the same director now returns three distinct entities (ML VIRTUAL, Dilomi and IMODILOMI), all with public presence in Vila Real and address links on the same street.

Why almost nobody cross-references these records in time

Everything above is public information. CITIUS, MJ Publications, the Justice Portal and civil court listings are open to the public. In theory, anyone can consult them.

In practice, almost nobody does. And there are reasons.

They are four different systems, with old interfaces, with no cross-referencing between them. And there is a detail that makes this particularly difficult for the ordinary citizen: none of these public sources allow searching by the director's name or tax number. All indexing is by company NIPC. To discover that the director of one current company has previously managed other companies in default, you need to know the name, run separate searches in search engines and social networks, and still manually cross-reference each company in MJ Publications one by one. You also need to know that "enforcement for no assets found" means the court could not locate assets to cover the debt, and to read incorporation publications to detect that two separate firms share the same physical address.

And above all, you need the instinct to do this research before paying a deposit. In Portugal, in practice, the habit of doing this is not yet established. Someone buying a home for the first time trusts the professional look of the office, the contract on letterhead, the director's pitch. They do not think to go to CITIUS to check whether the director has a historical personal insolvency, or to cross-reference the new company's address with the previous company's address.

That is exactly the gap ObraXRAY came to close in 2026. We bring together more than 20 verifications cross-referencing 9 official databases into a single report, with a risk score from 0 to 100, in a few seconds. Cross-referenced analysis through proprietary technology, on top of public official sources.

If today anyone searches for Dilomi on ObraXRAY, they see 0 out of 100, verdict "Não Avançar". Not because someone in Vila Real wrote a warning. Because the cross-referenced analysis of the public records returns that result.

ObraXRAY did not exist in 2024. The information we synthesise here did. What was missing was someone to cross-reference it in a single click, instead of requiring every citizen to do the work of an investigator.

How to verify a construction company before hiring: 3 steps

If you are considering hiring a construction company, before signing a contract or paying a deposit:

1. Look up the company in public records. The tax number is the starting point. CITIUS, IMPIC, MJ Publications. It is not enough to check that the licence is valid. Also check public enforcements, accounts filings, and civil proceedings in progress.
2. Try to look up the director's history too, knowing it is hard. This is the step almost nobody takes, because public sources do not allow searching by the director's name or tax number, all indexing is by company NIPC. To cross-reference manually, you have to note the directors' names from the incorporation publication, run searches in search engines and social networks, and check, one by one, any other firm associated. Cross-reference the address as well, since previous companies at the same physical headquarters often point to continuity of activity.
3. Check the relationship between the company's age and the amount you are about to pay. Paying tens of thousands of euros as a deposit to a construction company with less than a year of existence and no public record of completed works is always a risk. There are legitimate exceptions, but they require additional safeguards (escrow, bank guarantees, milestone-verified payments with an independent architect present).

If you prefer not to do this research manually, the ObraXRAY delivers it in a single report.

Frequently asked questions about the Dilomi case

What is Dilomi's tax number (NIF)?

Dilomi - Sustainable Houses, Lda has tax number 518084795. It was incorporated on 17 June 2024 and is based at Rua Costa, Armazém nº 4, in Vila Real.

Does Dilomi have a valid IMPIC licence?

As of the date of this article, yes. Dilomi appears with IMPIC licence no. 112958 - PAR, Class 2 (up to 400,000 € per project), registered on 22 August 2024, two months after the company was incorporated. We recommend confirming the current status directly with IMPIC before any decision, as licences can be suspended or revoked. Holding a valid licence is not, in any case, incompatible with the other public signals described in this article, and it shows precisely why checking only the licence is not enough to assess the risk of a construction company.

What is ML VIRTUAL, UNIPESSOAL LDA and what is its connection to Dilomi?

ML VIRTUAL Unipessoal Lda (tax number 516080482) is the previous company of the same director of Dilomi, Carlos Manuel Lopes Marques. It was incorporated in 2020 and operates (or operated) at the same physical address as Dilomi (Rua Costa, Armazém nº 4, Vila Real). It currently has an active declared insolvency and accumulated four public enforcements in 2024, three of them closed for "no assets found".

How many customers say they were harmed by Dilomi?

According to the CMTV report of May 2026, several customers signed contracts with Dilomi and paid significant tranches without the works progressing. The company's official response to CMTV confirms "5 customers who chose to unilaterally rescind their contracts". The actual number of people who consider themselves affected may be higher, given that former employees of the company also have proceedings before the Vila Real Labour Court over unpaid wages, and there may be other affected individuals still at the complaint stage or who have not yet decided to take court action.

How many civil proceedings are there against Dilomi?

We identified eight civil proceedings distributed against Dilomi, all between January and April 2026. The temporal coverage of the civil court distribution data we cross-reference begins in October 2025, which means proceedings prior to that date are not included. Our coverage does not allow us to exclude proceedings distributed before October 2025, in the period during which Dilomi was already operating (June 2024 onwards). The eight proceedings represent the most recent visible window, not necessarily the total.

How to verify whether a construction company is reliable in Portugal?

Cross-reference official sources: CITIUS (insolvencies, restructuring plans, enforcements), IMPIC (licences), MJ Publications (incorporations, amendments, accounts filings), Tax Authority and Social Security debtor lists, and civil courts (ongoing proceedings). Note that these sources index only by the company's NIPC, there is no public search by the director's name or tax number, so the director→prior companies cross-reference has to be done manually (search engines, social networks) or through a dedicated database. ObraXRAY performs this cross-referencing in a single report in a few seconds.

What is a "phoenix company" and how do you recognise one?

"Phoenix company" is the name given in legal and regulatory language to a practice in which a company in breach, or on the way to cessation, is abandoned and its director opens a new company to continue activity at the same address, often with the same staff and facilities, leaving the previous company's creditors with no possibility of recovery. They are recognised by cross-referencing the director's tax numbers, the physical address, and the accounting status of the previous company. More detail in our guide on contractors with proceedings and insolvencies.

Does Carlos Manuel Lopes Marques have other companies besides Dilomi and ML VIRTUAL?

Yes. Carlos Manuel Lopes Marques is also the director of IMODILOMI, LDA (tax number 518753042), incorporated on 22 May 2025. IMODILOMI is the entity that owns the television channel VilaTV, according to ERC record nº 128169 (Portuguese Media Regulator), where Carlos Marques is listed as both Editor and Director of the channel. The newsroom address registered with the ERC is Rua do Costa nº 5, in Vila Real, on the same street as the physical addresses of Dilomi and ML VIRTUAL (Rua Costa, Armazém nº 4). As of the date of this article, IMODILOMI does not show the same risk signals as ML VIRTUAL or Dilomi.

This article is based on information made public by the CMTV Grande Jornal Investigação report (May 2026) and on official records available at CITIUS, the Justice Portal, the MJ Publications Platform and the civil courts. The information provided is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. None of the facts referenced here constitutes an accusation of criminal conduct, which could only be established by a final court decision.

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