Convicted Paulo Guichard returns to Portugal. Former BPP administrator willing to hand over a passport
Former BPP administrator Paulo Guichard, resident in Brazil, announced that he will return to Portugal this week, to appear at a hearing at the Criminal Court of Lisbon, not opposing the request for the handover of the passport.
“As soon as he arrived in Portugal, the accused informs the court of his arrival. The accused proposes to present and hand over his passport to this court on the day following his arrival in Portugal, and always before 14:00 on 8 October 2021 “, indicates the application of Nuno Brandão, Paulo Guichard’s lawyer, addressed to the judge of the Central Criminal Court of Lisbon.
In the application, to which Lusa had access, the arbitrator lawyer who, in order to comply with his procedural duty to appear before the judicial authority when summoned, the defendant Paulo Guichard will return to Portugal this week.
“Given the huge social upheaval caused by the escape of the defendant João Rendeiro (former president of the BPP) and the public suspicions that immediately feel about the risk of being the next defendant in this process to evade the action of justice, it is the intention of the Defendant Paulo Guichard will move back to reside in Portugal “, mentions the application.
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In the same application addressed to the judges, it is stated that as of Thursday (October 7th), Paulo Guichard will take up residence in Porto, with the exact street address, number and floor being communicated.
Paulo Guichard informs the court that, similarly to what was done by co-defendants and former administrators Salvador Fezas Vital and Fernando Lima, and based on the same orders of reasons for those affected, he said that he would not oppose the advanced promotion. by the Public Prosecutor’s Office so that he is subject to the prohibition of leaving Portugal, with the delivery of his passport.
“The defendant’s immediate return to Portugal – where his family lives (mother, children, sister and nephews) and, as a result of family support that was never haggled, he is able to maintain an integrated and socially responsible life, without committing crimes – is the proven proof that it intends not to evade national justice”, concludes the request of Paulo Guichard’s lawyer.
Paulo Guichard, Salvador Fezas Vital and Fernando Lima were sentenced, by ruling of May 14, last year, and are subject to a Term of Identity and Residence (TIR), and the MP now considered it appropriate to promote the reconsideration of the measures of coercion, with a view to prohibiting the defendants from leaving Portugal, and they must hand over their passports.
Paulo Guichard was sentenced to nine years and six months for serious economic and financial crimes linked to the BPP, the sentence not having become final.
Paulo Guichard – living in Brazil for years -, Salvador Fezas Vital and Fernando Lima have already publicly expressed their repudiation for what they consider to have been João Rendeiro’s flight abroad and in an uncertain whereabouts, thus evading justice.
The collapse of BPP, a bank dedicated to the management of wealth, took place in 2010, after the BPN case and preceding other scandals in Portuguese banking.
The BPP gave rise to several legal proceedings, involving crimes of qualified fraud, document falsification and computer forgery, as well as another one related to fines imposed by bank supervisory authorities.