Sport Lisboa e Benfica – Futebol, SAD confirms that it has been accused of tax fraud, in a note sent to the Securities and Exchange Commission (CMVM).
The accusation has “inherently and among others, members who were part of its Board of Directors in the period 2016 to 2020, one of whom is still in office and has also been charged with the same infraction, as well as for falsification of instrumental documents that imputed tax fraud “.
“The process runs its terms and the right of defense will be exercised in due course in accordance with the legal procedure,” adds the same note.
This Tuesday, the Jornal de Notícias reported that the Public Ministry had charged Benfica SAD, Benfica Estádio, the former president of the club Luís Filipe Vieira and the still administrator of Benfica SAD Domingos Soares de Oliveira for crimes of qualified tax fraud, under the so-called Blue Bag process.
Miguel Moreira, former financial director and administrator of Benfica’s SAD, will also be charged, as well as businessman José Bernardes and his small IT company Questão Flexible.
The Benfica administrators allegedly diverted 1.6 million euros to the company of José Bernardes, the only defendant accused of money laundering, with “perfect knowledge that the invoices issued by the Flexible Issue for the benefit of the companies Benfica, SAD and Benfica Estádio, SA, did not title any economic operation”.
These invoices, dubbed “invoices in favor”, for which José Bernardes would charge 11% of the value, will only have served to make money outside of Benfica’s sphere. As large amounts entered from the companies Benfica SAD and Benfica Estádio, those same amounts were immediately withdrawn at the teller window through cashier’s checks.
Expresso details that the investigation carried out by the Judicial Police failed to clarify what happened to the money that will have been used to fill the Blue Bag that gave its name to the operation. Prosecutor Hélder Branco suspects that the tax evasion route, presumably headed by Luís Filipe Vieira, reached Dakar, in Senegal.
The former president of Benfica is accused of three crimes of qualified tax fraud and 19 of documentary falsification. The Public Ministry claims 585,000 euros from the defendants. The amount includes 116,000 euros for SAD do Benfica and 307,000 for Benfica Estádio.
Source: TSF
