Armando Pereira, co-founder of the Altice group, will be able to get out of 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 indicted in connection with a case of corruption and money laundering.
Contrary to what the prosecution had requested, a deposit of 10 million euros, “the judge opted for home imprisonment but without electronic bracelet or police surveillance”, explained Manuel Magalhes e Silva to the Portuguese media at the exit of the court. My client will be able to “go home and sleep with your family”he added.
Armando Pereira, one of the four people indicted in this case, is suspected of 11 corruption and money laundering offences. He refuted through his lawyer the charges brought against him.
The 71-year-old businessman, who founded Altice with French billionaire Patrick Drahi, was caught in a major dragnet that led investigators to carry out a series of searches, including at Altice’s headquarters in Lisbon.
Former Managing Director of SFR in France
He was heard by the courts last week as part of “Operation Picoas”, an investigation for corruption and money laundering which implicates several managers or former executives of Altice. The investigation relates to facts likely to constitute offenses “corruption in the private sector, tax evasion, forgery and use of forgery and money laundering”had indicated the public ministry.
According to the Portuguese media, Armando Pereira is suspected in a case concerning the sale of real estate which belonged to the incumbent operator Portugal Telecom, in the meantime bought by Altice. The investigators are particularly interested in the sale of buildings which would have harmed the Portuguese State and Altice to the tune of several million euros.
Altice said in a statement last week “continue to operate” normally and cooperate with the authorities in the ongoing investigation.
Armando Pereira is one of the oldest traveling companions of Patrick Drahi, whom he met in 1991 then followed in 2002 in the creation of Altice. Within the cable and then telecoms group, this faithful was known as the specialist in technique and costs – and sometimes decried for his restructuring methods considered brutal.
A time deputy general manager of SFR in France, Mr. Pereira had no official function in the group for two years but continued to accompany it for missions. He returned to SFR’s French headquarters in the summer of 2022.