Portuguese businessman Armando Pereira, co-founder of the Altice group, who was arrested ten days ago and indicted in connection with a corruption and money laundering case, was placed under house arrest on Monday, according to his lawyer.
The judge opted “for home imprisonment but without electronic bracelets or police surveillance,” his lawyer Manuel Magalhaes e Silva told AFP. The court “is convinced that it will respect the decision”, he added, while the prosecution demanded house arrest or a deposit of 10 million euros.
Armando Pereira, one of the four people indicted in this case, is suspected of 11 corruption and money laundering offences. He refuted, through his lawyer, the suspicions hanging over him.
Crackdown in Lisbon
The 71-year-old businessman, who founded Altice with French billionaire Patrick Drahi, was caught in a major dragnet on July 13, which led investigators to conduct a series of searches, including at Altice headquarters in Lisbon.
He was heard by the courts last week as part of “Operation Picoas”, an investigation for corruption and money laundering which implicates several managers or former executives of Altice.
The investigation relates to facts likely to constitute offenses “of corruption in the private sector, tax evasion, forgery and use of forgery and money laundering”, had indicated the public ministry.
According to the Portuguese media, Armando Pereira is suspected in a case concerning the sale of real estate which belonged to the incumbent operator Portugal Telecom, in the meantime bought by Altice.
The investigators are particularly interested in the sale of buildings which would have harmed the Portuguese State and Altice to the tune of several million euros. Altice said in a statement last week “to continue its activities” normally and to cooperate with the authorities “in the ongoing investigation.