By Andrea Hargraves 
Businessman Madeiran Joe Berardo and the lawyer who represents him, André Luiz Gómez, were arrested during an operation by the judicial police for fraud in financing granted by Caixa Geral de Depositos (CGD).
The massive operation took place in Lisbon, Funchal and Sesimbra. a morning mail He knows that Judge Carlos Alexandre is one of those involved in the process that led to these arrests and that Armando Vara is suspected of providing credits.
An investigation has been ongoing since 2016 for suspected malicious administrative offenses, qualified fraud, tax fraud and money laundering. According to a statement sent by judicial investigators, the investigation identified internal procedures in the processes of granting, restructuring, monitoring and recovering credit, in contrast to good banking practices that may constitute a criminal practice. “The PJ operation focused mainly on an economic group, which between 2006 and 2009 contracted 4 financing operations with CGD, with a value of approximately 439 million euros. This economic group failed to comply with contracts and resorted to renegotiation mechanisms and debt. Restructuring so as not to be amortized . ,” as stated in the statement.
At the moment, this economic group has caused losses estimated at 1 billion euros to CGD, NB and BCP, having identified actions that could lead to criminal liability and waste of assets.
According to the information provided by this authority, 51 searches were carried out, 22 home searches, 25 non-home searches, 3 searches in a banking institution and 1 search in a law firm. The operation involved 180 professionals, 138 from PJ, 26 from AT, 9 from MP and 7 from JIC.