Lisbon: Portuguese art collector Joe Berardo, who was one of the richest men in the country and showed off the great works by Miro and Mondrian in his own museum, was detained by the police on Tuesday in a money laundering investigation and fraud.
Berardo has been under supervision by the authorities for years, allegedly committing crimes related to almost one billion Euro loans received from Portuguese banks.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office and the police said Berardo was 76 years old and one of his lawyers was detained on Tuesday as part of a loan investigation provided by Portugal’s largest bank, CaiXa de Deposit (CGD) (CGD), to an economic group led by Berardo.
Berardo and his lawyer are not immediately available for comments.
In May 2019, Berardo told the parliamentary committee that he did not have a debt on his name and that the loan he requested was for the company associated with him.
Police said in a group statement received 439 million euros ($ 522.81 million) in loans from CGD from 2006 to 2009.
Allegedly “violating contracts (with CGD) and using renegotiation and restructuring mechanisms to avoid amortization”, it’s a word.
The Prosecutor’s Office said the CGD internal procedure to provide loans and the restructuring process and the subsequent recovery of credit did not comply with “good banking practices and can be a crime practice”.
CGD refused to comment.
The Public Prosecutor said more than 50 searches for ongoing evidence, including in private homes, banks and lawyers office in Lisbon, Sesimbra and Funchal, a city in Madeira Islands came from Berardo.
Police said that in total Berardo had gathered nearly one billion euros in debt to three Portuguese banks such as CGD, Novo Banco and Millennium BCP, who filed a joint lawsuit in 2019 in an effort to restore debt.
Banks won an art collection from Museu Colecao Berardo in Lisbon in 2019 as collateral and submitted protection of work to the country.
The museum continues to operate.
Berardo continues to have another collection.
Berardo is expected to appear before the judge in the next 48 hours.