Members of a criminal network, accused of laundering more than €150 million through Portuguese banks, are on trial in Lisbon.
Twenty-nine individuals and the owners of companies Money One and Transfex are being prosecuted.
The main defendant is a Brazilian, José Augusto Martins, who has been held in custody since his arrest in April 2015.
Thirty-one defendants, including BIC bank officials, are linked in a case of criminal association, corruption and laundering of at least €150 million, mainly from international drug trafficking operations.
The trial has started in Lisbon and questioning will continue tomorrow, Wednesday.
The prosecution alleges that, on the orders of José Martins, a manager at the Money One money transfer company, a group was set up, later joined by staff from Transfex.
According to the investigation by the Lisbon Department of Criminal Investigation and Action (DIAP), the defendants laundered money from highly organised criminal activities, including drug trafficking, to conceal its origin and to get the money into the legitimate financial system.
The prosecution claims that the group used front companies and existing customer accounts as a way of concealing their international criminal activities.
The range of crimes includes criminal association, active and passive corruption, money laundering, misuse of trust, falsification of documents and good old-fashioned fraud.
The group, which includes several Brazilians, seven Portuguese bankers and one lawyer, among others, was operating from the end of 2012 to April 2015 during which time it laundered at least €150 million.
The investigation in Portugal and overseas involved financial, accounting and IT expertise, and financial costs have been claimed by the State, payable from seized computers, motor vehicles and large amounts of money.
The illicit funds collected by the front company, Money One, later were deposited in high street banks including Barclays, BIC, Novo Banco, Millenium BCP, BPI, Caixa Geral and Montepio.
The indictment, signed by ‘Super-Judge’ Carlos Alexandre, accuses José Augusto Martins, José Golim, Adonias de Souza, Mylitayne Lordelo, Nuno Marmelada, Fernando Carocha and Luciana Gonçalves of receiving money, some of which they deposited in accounts opened at BIC under the fake name of TITUR (the Brazilian Exchange and Tourism Company).
Other deposits were made at Belgian banks in the name of dummy companies and later were transferred to TITUR.
BIC managers knew full well what was going on and Pedro Aleixo, Mário Vilares, José Carlos Matos, Marco Teixeira and Rui Cristino are accused of authorising the deposits and making the transfers.
The trial may last a while as there are 106 witnesses on stand-by should they be needed.
Comments
Can we assume that, yet again, we owe it to the banking systems outside of Portugal in developed countries or a spin-out from the Panama Off-shore Leak? Flagging up what was going on here in Portugal from at least 2012 and so the DCIAP were handed a fait accompli ?
Hmm.
Bankers and the political elite seem to be above the laws that apply to the rest of us..