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

“The alleged acts cover more than three hundred mortgage applications, worth more than forty-one million and eight hundred thousand euros, obtained from various national banking institutions, all achieved with forged documentation”, the note reads.

According to the Public Prosecutor's Office, the gang allegedly operated between December 2015 and at least June 25, 2024, and its members are suspected of the crimes of criminal association, qualified fraud, money laundering, document forgery and false statements.

Their modus operandi consisted of the “large-scale creation and 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 managed 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 with no known income or assets, subverting the normal functioning of the banking system”.

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

The leaders of the organization obtained profits not only from the difference between the purchase price and the value of the fraudulently granted financing, but also from the “values ​​of the loans successively obtained in the name of people used for this purpose, through simulated sales”.

According to the Public Prosecutor's Office, the leaders also managed to obtain “illicit profits by making the properties obtained through this means profitable, where those people, who acted as front men, were also used to hide them”.

In the context of this case, the Public Prosecutor's Office promoted the declaration of forfeiture in favor of the State of several assets obtained through criminal means, namely, €26.4 million “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, most of them 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 accused is in preventive detention and the other two are required to remain in the house under electronic monitoring.

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

The investigation has been led by the Regional Department of Investigation and Criminal Prosecution (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).