The Public Prosecutor’s Office, in an indictment made accessible this Wednesday, requested that the Bar Association be urgently informed that two of the defendants in this case, André Luís Gomes and Gonçalo Moreira Rato, are lawyers “and the facts that could constitute disciplinary offenses”.
The two lawyers, Joe Berardo, and the Associação Coleção Berardo are accused of aggravated fraud by simulating a civil action that prevented three national banks – Caixa Geral de Depósitos (CGD), the defunct Banco Espírito Santo (BES), and Banco Comercial Português (BCP) – from claiming credits worth one billion euros.
The Public Prosecutor argues that lawyer André Luís Gomes agreed to simulate the existence of a lawsuit, “which he well knew was not real”, presenting the court with “procedural documents that did not reflect the truth”. On the other hand, lawyer Gonçalo Moreira Rato allegedly agreed to file the civil action “despite knowing very well that he had never even seen or communicated with his supposed client”, as stated in the indictment.
“Both openly advocated against the law, resorted to illegal maneuvers, accepted unjust sponsorships aimed at obtaining unlawful results”, added the Public Prosecutor concerning the process stemming from the extraction of a certificate from the CGD case.
The case concerns the lack of payments to Caixa Geral de Depósitos, BES, and BCP. Along with Joe Berardo, two lawyers were also accused.
Teresa Banha with Lusa | 17:59 – 17/07/2025
The Public Prosecutor believes the defendants removed all protections from the interests of the creditor banks, eliminating control and intervention mechanisms in the Associação Coleção Berardo – the accused entity – that had been agreed upon in 2008, the year when the three creditor banks began to hold the pledge of 100% of the Associação Coleção Berardo’s participation titles.
To annul this control, which extended to artworks valued at over 316 million euros, a “pre-planned scheme” was allegedly executed to nullify the statutory changes in effect under the 2008 pledge. This plan is said to have begun in 2013, with the defendants later gradually eroding the power of the three creditor banks.
By 2016, following the court’s decision, the banks’ titles were reduced to 49.81%, as opposed to the 100% of the initial agreement. The objective was “to place this heritage beyond the reach of the creditor banks”, the indictment states.
According to the Public Prosecutor, the civil action’s verdict “allowed the defendants to approve resolutions in General Assemblies of the Associação Coleção Berardo harmful to the financial interests of the creditor banks and contrary to what was agreed in negotiations and contracts signed between 2008 and 2010”.
