A corruption case has just broken out within SFR’s parent company, Alice. Armando Pereira, the unofficial number two in the group, was arrested at his home in Portugal on Thursday and charged with tax evasion, corruption and money laundering. The businessman and accomplices were going to enrich themselves at the expense of Altice.
This past weekend was rather bad for the unofficial second man in the Altice (SFR) group, Armando Pereira. In fact, one of the founders of the Altice Group (SFR) was arrested on Thursday at his home in Braga, Portugal and spent the weekend in jail.
This arrest came after 90 searches were carried out at the headquarters of the Portuguese branch of the Communications Group and in his relatives, according to what he reveals reverberation.
Tax fraud, corruption and money laundering
Armando Pereira does not hold an official role at Altice, but he has provided plenty of support to its boss, Patrick Drahi, dealing particularly with relations between the group and its subcontractors.
The businessman is now accused of tax evasion, corruption and money laundering in Portugal. The Portuguese judiciary claims that Armando Pereira and his associates would have enriched themselves at the group’s expense by awarding contracts to suppliers of Altice Portugal in fact owned by the businessman’s relatives, according to justice hypotheses leaked to the local media.
According to daily reports, Altice Portugal announced in a press release that it has suspended all orders or payments from service providers targeted by the investigation.
Investigators are now closely monitoring transactions by Altice Portugal that are considered suspicious, in particular the sale of real estate owned by Altice, estimated at 15 million euros, or the purchase of television rights for football teams. The defendants allegedly exploited a commission passing through Dubai and the United States, and caused damages to the Portuguese tax authorities of more than 100 million euros, according to the authorities in charge of the investigation.
Armando Pereira will appear before a judge earlier this week. Anyway, this ad is a real blow to Patrick Drahe who has been working with Armando Pereira for 30 years now.
