Joe Berardo will not be held in pre-trial detention
Investigative Judge decides not to impose pre-trial detention on Joe Berardo or the lawyer André Luiz Gomes.
Madeiran businessman Joe Berardo should not be in custody, according to information gathered by ECO. The Public Prosecutor (MP) asked for €5 million in bail as a measure of coercion.
The businessman Joe Berardo and his lawyer, André Luiz Gomes, arrested on Tuesday, respond to qualified fraud, qualified tax fraud, money laundering, computer forgery, forgery, qualified abuse of trust and embezzlement or destruction of objects placed under public power.
According to information released by the Supreme Judicial Council (CMP) at the request of the Central Criminal Court Judge (TCIC) Carlos Alexandre, the offences charged to Joe Berardo and André Luíz Gomes did not include the crime of harmful administration, which should be charged to one of the remaining defendants.
The case that led to the arrest of the businessman Joe Berardo has 12 defendants, of which six are companies and five are individuals. Joe Berardo, André Luíz Gomes, Joe Berardo’s brother, Carlos Santos Ferreira, Joe Berardo’s son, and several other collective persons are on the list. Joe Berardo’s economic group is allegedly responsible for losses of almost €1 billion to Caixa Geral de Depósitos, Novo Banco and BCP.
