Minister of Foreign Affairs holds real estate company with partner convicted of tax fraud
The founder of Eurolocarno – as João Gomes Cravinho’s real estate company is called – was involved in the biggest real estate deal made in Portugal in recent years, which damaged Novo Banco’s Resolution Fund by 260 million euros. Confronted with this investigation by TVI, the minister claims to be unaware of the problems of the partners’ court
Eurolocarno – Sociedade Imobiliária was appreciated in 2014, but the minister João Gomes Cravinho only became a partner in November 2020. The head office is on Rua da Palmeira, in Lisbon, but on the facade there is no indication that a real estate company operates here . Only the registration of a creative agency.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs is currently one of the majority shareholders of this company. He holds a share of one thousand euros, but shares a partnership with seven other partners.
As evidenced by a certificate published on the justice portal, the company was recognized by António João Barata da Silva Barão, who was involved in a business that damaged Novo Banco’s resolution fund by 260 million euros.
In 2017, Novo Banco sold 13,000 properties to an anonymous fund. It was the biggest real estate deal in Portugal in recent years and the operation had a code name within the bank “Portfólio Viriato”.
The houses and land were sold well below their appraised value of 613 million euros: they ended up being sold for 364 million euros. António da Silva Barão and his wife registered five real estate companies at once.
But from manager to manager, Eurolocarno, which the Minister of Foreign Affairs declared to the Constitutional Court as well as to Parliament, only added managers with careers that disappeared in court.
If in May 2015 the manager was Silva Barão, less than a month later the management passed to Marcos de Almeida Lagoa, who was also convicted of tax fraud. But in this case the situation is more serious.
Marcos Lagoa is still a partner of Minister João Gomes Cravinho. He has half the share of the holder of the Foreign Affairs portfolio, but was one of the 11 defendants in the CTT case. In addition, he was tried for various economic crimes that would have caused 13.5 million euros in compensation to the Post Office in a business involving the sale of two company properties: one of the CTT buildings, in Coimbra, was sold for around 15 million euros and, on the same day, it was sold again by the same company for 20 million.
Marcos Lagoa was responsible for the real estate investment fund that bought the CTT building and was sentenced to deliver 20,000 euros to the State, suspected of having received a commission from the sellers.
Contacted by TVI, from the same group as CNN Portugal, Minister Gomes Cravinho claims that he was not aware of the financing problems of his partners.