Algarve: 20 people accused of purchasing 284 properties with fraudulent credits

In a statement, the MP said that 118 properties were seized, the majority in the Algarve, and that the defendants, of various nationalities, developed for almost 10 years «a transnational criminal organization responsible for a sophisticated scheme to obtain» bank financing.

«The alleged facts cover more than three hundred applications for housing credit, worth more than forty-one million and eight hundred thousand euros, obtained from various national banking institutions, all achieved with forged documentation», reads the note.

According to the MP, the network will have acted between December 2015 and, at least, June 25, 2024, with its elements suspected of the crimes of criminal association, qualified fraud, money laundering, document forgery and false statements.

The 'modus operandi' consisted of the "creation and large-scale manipulation of pay slips, bank statements, annual income statements and employer statements, all with apparent origin in the United Kingdom", adds the note published on the website of the Regional Attorney General's Office of Évora.

In this way, the group was able to simulate, with Portuguese banks, “financial and professional situations that were falsely superior to reality, misleading them and leading them to grant loans unconditionally, essentially to foreign citizens without known income or assets, subverting the normal functioning of the banking system”.

In this context, the prosecution identified “several situations of definitive non-compliance with the payment of credit instalments, and it is expected that the number may increase”, with at least 284 properties having been acquired in the Algarve.

The organization's leaders made profits not only through the difference between the purchase price and the value of the fraudulently granted financing, but also through the "values ​​of the credits successively obtained in the name of people used for this purpose, through simulated sales".

According to the MP, the leaders also managed to obtain “illicit profits from the profitability of the properties reached through that route, where those people, [who acted as] front men, were also used to hide them”.

In this case, the Public Prosecutor's Office promoted the declaration of forfeiture in favor of the State of several assets obtained criminally, namely, 26.4 million euros "to be paid jointly and severally by the leaders of the organization, corresponding to the profits obtained from the fraudulent transactions".

According to the MP, 118 properties were also seized, the majority in the Algarve, valued at at least 21.5 million euros, 22 cars and three boats, including a yacht valued at 320 thousand euros, bank balances and cash.

One of the defendants is in preventive detention and the other two are required to remain in their homes under electronic surveillance.

At this moment, the deadline for the possible opening of an investigation is running, which, if not requested, “will determine the referral of the case for trial”, explains the MP.

The investigation was led by the Regional Department of Investigation and Criminal Action (DIAP) of Évora since January 2021, with the assistance of the Southern Directorate of the Judicial Police and the Technical Advisory Unit of the Attorney General's Office (PGR).