Prosecutor investigates over €20 million commissions in football transfers

The state prosecutor’s office (MP) is investigating the payment of commissions exceeding €20 million related to football transfers and on Monday conducted 33 searches, including in FC Porto and a bank.

In a statement, the Central Department of Investigation and Prosecution (DCIAP) states that the investigation are “facts that have occurred at least since 2017 to the present, with a strong international dimension involving commission payments of more than €20 million”.

The DCIAP adds that this Monday’s diligences “aim to investigate the suspected practice of crimes of tax fraud, swindling, abuse of trust and laundering, related to football players transfers and financial circuits involving intermediaries in these businesses.”

In the execution of the 33 search warrants carried out in Lisbon and Porto, which included FC Porto, a banking institution and several residences, “85 members of the Tax Inspection and police as well as magistrates from the Public Prosecutor’s Office, participated”.

A source linked to the case also confirmed to Lusa that the DCIAP and the Tax Authority, supported by police officers, searched the home of the president of FC Porto, Jorge Nuno Pinto da Costa, and the club’s facilities.

This Monday’s operation was advanced by Sábado magazine, which revealed that the searches also involve football businessmen Pedro Pinho and Alexandre Pinto da Costa, son of the president of FC Porto.