According to CNN Portugal this morning, the former banker was being heard at the Central Department of Investigation and Criminal Action (DCIAP), on suspicion of fraud against BESA, which he presided between 2001 and 2012, for around 500 million euros. Alleged crimes of qualified fraud and money laundering will be at stake.
Álvaro Sobrinho may be subject to new coercive measures, as he is currently only subject to a term of identity and residence. The former president of BESA is said to have been the beneficiary of 352 million euros through three Angolan companies, to which another 148 million can be added through two offshore companies.
On Tuesday, the name of Álvaro Sobrinho had already been targeted by an editorial investigation, which released new documents about the participation of BESA and its former president in a scheme to divert millions of dollars from a social housing project in the country.
According to a statement from the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), available on the organization's website, one that is part of the team that investigated the Panama Papers and Suisse Secrets 'dossiers', "Álvaro Sobrinho , who led an Angolan bank that collapsed with billions of dollars in unexplained debt, is linked to a scheme to divert hundreds of millions of dollars from a government-backed social housing project," in 2009.
At issue is the bank's participation in a financing for the construction of a social housing that ended up never happening, and that researchers say involves the embezzlement of 750 million euros, initially approved for the project that never happened.
