Prosecutors seek conviction of businessman Mário Ferreira in €1 million tax fraud case

Portuguese prosecutors have asked a court to convict businessman Mário Ferreira on charges of aggravated tax fraud, arguing that the 2015 sale of the Atlântida passenger vessel to a Maltese company was a simulated transaction designed to divert profits abroad and evade around €1 million in tax.

The request was made during closing arguments at the São João Novo Court in Porto today, where the Public Prosecutor’s Office said the evidence presented during the trial proved the offence of aggravated tax fraud. Prosecutors did not specify the sentence they are seeking.

Ferreira, owner of Mystic Invest, the parent company of DouroAzul, and chairman of Media Capital, which owns broadcaster TVI – a gilded figure in Portuguese business circles (he is even one of the leading shareholders in Savannah Resources, the company battling to extract lithium in Covas do Barroso) denies wrongdoing.

The case centres on the purchase of the Atlântida ferry by Mystic Cruises from the Viana do Castelo shipyards for €8.75 million in September 2014.

Prosecutors say the vessel was sold in 2015 for €11 million to International Trade Winds (ITW), a company established in Malta and managed by Ferreira, before ITW later resold it to Norwegian cruise operator Hurtigruten for €17 million.

According to the prosecution, the transaction generated a capital gain of €3.7 million that was not declared on time, allowing Ferreira to obtain an unlawful personal income tax advantage of around €1 million.

Prosecutors also asked the court to convict Ferreira’s companies Mystic Cruises and Valens Private Equity, both of which are defendants in the case.

During the hearing, the prosecution described the sale to the Maltese company as a “simulated transaction” intended to relocate profits outside Portugal.

Prosecutors argued the vessel had been sold for a price “significantly” below market value, citing a valuation carried out before the transaction that reportedly placed the ship’s worth at more than €26.6 million.

The Public Prosecutor’s Office also characterised International Trade Winds as a shell company with no effective business operations, employees or corporate structure.

Referring to the deal as one marked by “opacity” and “confidentiality”, the prosecutor told the court there was little doubt about the purpose of the Maltese entity.

“We have no doubt that the only tangible function of the corporate structure created in Malta was to enable the diversion of Mário Ferreira’s tax obligations,” the prosecutor said. “The sale of the vessel to ITW never added value to the ship. The vessel never approached Malta and never sailed under the Maltese flag.”

The trial is continuing, with the court expected to deliver its judgment at a later date. Ferreira has consistently rejected the allegations against him.

This is just the latest step in a long-running ‘scandal’ that has generated judicial proceedings for defamation against one of Ferreira’s greatest critics with regard to this specific ship deal, former Euro MP Ana Gomes.

Mr Ferreira not long ago became the first Portuguese ‘space tourist’ in a private rocket launch out of the United States desert.

source material: Diário de Notícias/ Lusa

Natasha Donn

Journalist for the Portugal Resident.