Ernani Vas Antunesh denies missing and says he can be listened to

Ernani Vas Antunes, a suspect in the trial who is linked to Altice co-founder Armando Pereira, ensured that he could be heard by the authorities and denied through his defense that he was “on the run or in an undetermined position.” location”.

“Referring to the process reported, [Hernâni Vaz Antunes] he is not and was not “on the run” or “in an undefined place”, because already through his lawyers he officially notified the competent authorities of his availability for procedural formalities and to be heard, where and when it will be determined”, can be read in a note sent to Luza businessman protection.

Lawyers Rui Patricio and Thiago Monfort added that they would not “make any other public comment on this (…) out of respect for the process and its rules, authorities and stakeholders.”

Hernani Vaz Antunes is known as the right-hand man of Altice co-founder Armando Pereira, who was arrested on Thursday following an operation by the State Ministry (MP) and the Tax Authority (AT) on suspicion of businesses linked to Altice Portugal.

Jessica Antunes, daughter of Ernani Vas Antunes, and economist Alvaro Gil Loureiro were also detained during this operation. The three detainees were identified this Saturday before Judge Carlos Alexandre at the Central Criminal Court and will testify during interrogation.

The operation launched on Thursday, which resulted in three arrests, included about 90 home and non-domestic searches, including office and office premises of lawyers in various districts of the city, according to the Deputy’s Main Directorate for Investigation and Execution of Sentences (VDRUI). a country.

At stake is allegedly “an error in the Altice Group’s decision-making process in terms of hiring, a practice that harms the group’s companies and competition,” pointing to active and passive private corruption. The authorities also indicate that at the fiscal level, the state will be deceived in the amount of “more than 100 million euros.”

The investigation also points to evidence of “abuse of preferential taxation applied at the headquarters of the IRC in the Free Zone of Madeira” through fictitious tax domiciliation of people and companies. The MP understands that offshore companies will also be used for money laundering and forgery charges.

During the searches, the DCIAP found that documents and items were seized, “such as luxury cars and exclusive models, with an estimated value of around 20 million euros.”