Armando Pereira, co-founder of Altice Group, will be able to leave prison, but he is now under house arrest in Portugal, his lawyer announced on Monday, July 24. The Portuguese businessman was arrested on July 13 and charged with corruption and money laundering.
Contrary to what the prosecution requested, a deposit of 10 million euros was made. “The judge chose home detention but without an electronic bracelet or police monitoring.”Manuel Magalhaes e Silva, Mr. Pereira’s lawyer, explained to Portuguese media as he left court. My client will be able to do that “Go home and sleep with your family”he added.
Armando Pereira, one of the four people charged in this case, is suspected of eleven corruption and money laundering crimes. Through his lawyer, he refuted the accusations against him.
The 71-year-old businessman, who founded Altice with French billionaire Patrick Drahi, was arrested in a large-scale police operation that prompted investigators to carry out a series of searches, including at the company’s headquarters in Lisbon.
Former General Manager of SFR in France
He was heard by the courts last week as part of Operation PECOAS, a corruption and money laundering investigation that implicated several former directors or executives of Altice. These are facts that are likely to constitute crimes “Private sector corruption, tax fraud, forgery, use of counterfeiting and money laundering”The prosecutor announced.
According to Portuguese media, Armando Pereira is a suspect in a case related to the sale of real estate owned by the historic Portuguese telecommunications company, which in the meantime was bought by Altice. Investigators are particularly interested in the sale of buildings that would have damaged the Portuguese state and Altes amounting to several million euros.
Altice recently explained in a statement “Continue its activities” Naturally and cooperate with the authorities in the ongoing investigation.
Armando Pereira is one of Patrick Drahi’s oldest travel companions, whom he met in 1991 and then followed in 2002 in creating Altice. Within the cable, then telecommunications, group, the loyalist was known as a technical and costs specialist — and was sometimes criticized for restructuring tactics he considered draconian.
At one time, Deputy General Manager of SFR in France, Mr. Pereira no longer held official duties with the group for two years but continued to accompany it on assignments. He returned to the French headquarters of the SFR in the summer of 2022.
