[Trending News] MP Archives Investigation to the alleged corruption in the sale of Atlantis to Mário Ferreira

The decision to archive this inquiry, reported today by the newspaper 'Online' Observer, investigated the eventual practice of active and passive corruption crimes, economic participation in business and harmful administration.

“The filing of this process is not surprising, as it was the only possible decision. In fact, we recall that this is the second filing regarding the alleged corruption in the purchase of the Atlantis ship, ”says Rui Patrício and Tiago Félix da Costa, lawyers of the Porto businessman who sign a written joint reaction sent to Lusa.

Mário Ferreira's defense adds that, of the knowledge he has, “the only process that remains not yet archived respects only to tax issues”, referring to the subsequent sale of the Atlantis to a company in Malta, allegedly constituted by the entrepreneur, who The Mystic Invest group, owner of Douro Azul.

This inquiry, which investigates the alleged practice of tax fraud and bleaching crimes, led to searches in the Porto district, the Autonomous Region of Madeira and Malta, in July 2022, under the so -called 'Operation Ferry', in which Mário Ferreira is defendant.

“There is also unfounded suspicions and we hope they are already clarified, but our client made a point of voluntarily paying taxes that we consider improper. In the background, against all the fanfare, this may be another case of 'a mountain giving a rat' or, as we expect, with the end of this last fiscal process, everything will be properly clarified and closed, ”the lawyers say.

In a statement issued on July 7, 2022, the Tax and Customs Authority (AT) said that “the facts under investigation are reported from 2014 to 2016 and are substantiated in a transaction made using another jurisdiction, in order to decrease taxable profits in Portugal ”.

This procedure will have essentially aimed at the investigation, “reduce the amounts to be paid in IRC, as well as camouflage a possible distribution of profits.”

On this occasion, a judicial source explained to Lusa that in question was the business of purchase, in 2014, of the Atlantis Ship to the Naval Naval Committee of Viana do Castelo, for 8 million and 750 thousand euros, and its sale, the following year , to a Norwegian company, for about 17 million euros, through another company ('offshore') – however extinct – created, allegedly, by Mário Ferreira.