Ferry case. Public Prosecutor accuses Mário Ferreira of qualified tax fraud

The defense of businessman Mário Ferreira considers that the (only) accusation of qualified tax fraud by the Public Prosecutor's Office constitutes the “paradigm of what is sometimes experienced in the courts in Portugal”.

The owner of TVI was accused of the process of buying and selling a ship in 2015, from which a gain of more than three million euros would have been obtained.

The Public Prosecutor's Office claims 110,000 euros in compensatory interest from the businessman. Suspicions of fraud of five million with IRC have fallen.

Businessman Mário Ferreira, owner of Douro Azul and Media Capital, was accused by the Public Prosecutor's Office of qualified tax fraud in the sale of the ferry 'Atlantida'. The deal, valued at almost four million euros, was carried out through a company in Malta to avoid taxation in Portugal. The lawyer denies the accusations, stating that all earnings were reported and that the taxes due were paid.

José Maria Montenegro, Mário Ferreira's lawyer, was on CNN Fim de Tarde to explain the contours of the accusation to the businessman.

In a note published today by the Central Department of Investigation and Criminal Action (DCIAP), under the so-called 'Operation Ferrry', it states that the MP brought charges “against an accused (natural person) and against two commercial companies represented by him, for committing a crime of qualified tax fraud”