They seek “evidence of embezzlement and concealment of income in player transfer contracts”
The Portuguese Public Prosecutor’s Officetogether with the Tax and Customs Administration have a raid on more than 67 points in Portugallooking for evidence of possible fraud in the transfer of players.
It’s about the operationfine”. The records have taken place in stadiums such as Dragao, Da Luz and Alvalade, in clubs like Porto, Benfica and Sporting de Portugal. And also at home Alexandre Pinto da Costa, agent and son of Pinto Da Costa, president of Porto. House searches have also been carried out at three Benfica players: Gonçalo Guedes, Vlachodimos and Chiquinho. According to Portuguese media, the transfer from Gonçalo Guedes, from Benfica to PSG and beyond, also from the French club to Valencia CF, one of which is being investigated.
Guedes, at the moment he is a ‘Wolves’ player, after the English club paid 30 million fixed plus variable euros to Valencia. Precisely for this reason, Gonçalo Guedes’ house has been the subject of a police investigation by the tax authorities, in the context of Operation ‘Outside the Game’, which is underway in Portugal.
There have also been house searches at two Benfica players, such as Vlachodimos and Chiquinho. The tax authorities are investigating the transfer of the goalkeeper (2.4 million to Panathinaikos) and Chiquinho, who was taken over from Moreirense in July 2019, for 3.75 million euros. Porto, Benfica and Sporting de Portugal, the clubs involved, have issued similar statements confirming the records and making the club fully available to the Portuguese authorities.
The Central Directorate of Investigations and Criminal Procedure (DCIAP) has detailed the raids on several clubs, as well as the opening of new procedures. At issue are alleged crimes of qualified tax fraud, social security fraud and money laundering, linked to celebrating or extending employment contracts in the sport between 2014 and 2022. According to the Portuguese tax authorities, there are indications of illegal patrimonial, tax and social security benefits, for a total amount of more than 58 million euros.
Source: Goal