Armando Pereira’s defense says the MP’s indictment “represents a set of presumptions.”

The defense of Altice co-founder Armando Pereira today criticized the indictment of the Ministry of State (MP) in a trial called “Operação Picoas”, stressing that it is based on “a set of presumptions” and reiterating the businessman’s innocence.

“[Inocente?] Absolutely, I don’t have a shadow of a doubt about that. The existing indictment is not an indictment, it is a set of assumptions based on facts A, facts B, facts C. It is not a way of indicting, it is not a way of saying that someone is guilty of anything; it’s just making history. As we say today, storytelling,” said lawyer Manuel Magalhães i Silva.

Speaking to reporters in front of the Central Criminal Court (TCIC) in Lisbon, where the interrogation of Armando Pereira continued this morning, the lawyer recalled the absence of a tax fraud indictment against his client to show that they would be suspicious of other people whom MP seeks to tie in with co-founder Altice.

“No [indiciação] actual. There are several situations of other people who later, supposedly building a narrative, also want to blame Armando Pereira. Look at what happened over the course of a few days with tax fraud. Armando Pereira has been held accountable to the city and the world for a monumental tax fraud that could reach 250 million euros, and the MP does not accuse Armando Pereira of tax fraud,” he said.

The lawyer explained that the co-founder of Altice has yet to clear up “one or two questions after lunch.” However, he stressed that “it was possible to find out all the elements” imputed by the deputy to his voter, and that the interrogation ends today, expressing the expectation of “a favorable decision in terms of a measure of coercion”, which results in Armando Pereira being released after a week of detention.

The Altice co-founder is charged with 11 crimes, including six of active corruption and one of passive corruption in the private sector, in addition to four crimes of money laundering and falsification of non-quantifiable documents in the “Operação Picoas” trial.

According to the deputy’s Main Investigative and Criminal Department (GUSIN), the operation launched on July 13 led to three arrests, about 90 home and non-domestic searches were carried out, including on the premises of companies and offices of lawyers in various fields. parts of the country. Ernani Vas Antunes was the fourth defendant to be arrested, but this only happened on the 15th after he surrendered to the authorities.

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 deputy understands that “offshore” companies were also used, accusing them of money laundering and counterfeiting.

During the searches, the DCIAP found that documents and items were seized, “such as luxury cars and exclusive models, estimated to be worth around 20 million euros.”