Every summer, Armando Pereira, founder with Patrick Drahi of the Altice group (SFR, BFM-TV, etc.) in 2002, recharges his batteries at the Quinta das Casas Novas, his huge villa overlooking Guilhofrei, a small village located 90 kilometers to the northeast from Porto. Built in his native region, where the young Armando sold fabric in the markets to escape the poverty of his family, his luxurious residence, complete with a swimming pool, tennis and beach volleyball courts, two golf course, a kart course and a heliport, maintains the legend of the Portuguese businessman.
Immigrated to France in 1966, at the age of 14, with 2,000 escudos in his pocket (the equivalent of 10 euros) − as his daughter, Gaëlle, recounts in a biography published in 2016 (The Barefoot Billionaire, Editions du Moment) −, Mr. Pereira has become, thanks to Altice, the first Portuguese fortune. In its 2023 ranking, the magazine Challenges estimates it at 1.6 billion euros. In May 2015, the Portuguese Minister of Economy, Antonio Pires de Lima, even called him a “Hero of Vieira do Minho” : Mr. Pereira had pushed hard for Altice Portugal to choose this village located on his native lands in order to set up a telephone call center there.
But on July 13, 2023, the “hero” has become an outcast. Around 10 a.m., several police and tax officials ring the doorbell of the Quinta. Mandated by the prosecutor Rosario Teixeira, head of the central direction of investigation and criminal action, they have been investigating for nearly three years into alleged offenses of corruption, aggravated tax evasion, falsification and money laundering. Simultaneous searches are carried out throughout the country by nearly a hundred investigators.
Arrested, Mr. Pereira was taken to the Lisbon police station in Moscavide. There are ten days left. Released on July 24, he has since been under house arrest in his villa, without electronic bracelet or police surveillance. The only constraint: his helicopter, with which he joined his villa once he got off his private jet, was confiscated from him. Two businessmen close to Mr. Pereira, Alvaro Gil Loureiro and Hernani Vaz Antunes, as well as the latter’s daughter, Jessica, were also charged in “Operation Picoas” – “penitence” in French, from the name of the metro station next to Altice Portugal’s headquarters in Lisbon.
“Betrayed”
It was telephone tapping carried out as part of a former corruption investigation in Portuguese football, also involving Mr. Antunes, which put the flea in the ears of the magistrates. Organized from Portugal, with ramifications in the Madeira Free Zone and in tax havens, including the United Arab Emirates, the alleged corruption scheme allegedly allowed the diversion of commissions on purchases made by Altice Portugal from dozens of suppliers, including telecom equipment manufacturers Nokia, Huawei and Cisco.
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