Fugitive BPP ‘bankster’ João Rendeiro has broken his silence in a bid to deflect some of the legal flak affecting his wife since he left the country after selling art works impounded by the courts (click here).
In declarations to a news website, he is said to have ‘taken all the blame’, saying 63-year-old spouse Maria de Jesus should never have been identified as the ‘faithful trustee’ of the plundered art collection.
It was all a ‘mistake’, he claims, by his lawyer, whom he instructed to put the works into his (João Rendeiro’s name).
Mr Rendeiro is dodging three jail terms by having left the country.
As such it is difficult to see how his affirmations can save the day. The courts will already be hugely fed up with him.
Maria de Jesus Rendeiro remains under house arrest at the couple’s mansion home. She is due to be fitted with an electronic bracelet (to ensure she doesn’t try leaving the country in a similar way her husband did) and is facing various criminal charges, including money-laundering (click here).
Says SAPO24, the online to which João Rendeiro addressed his latest statements, the former president of BPP – which collapsed over a decade ago owing clients millions of euros – “continues in parts uncertain. In spite of Maria de Jesus Rendeiro having told the central criminal court that her husband is in South Africa, there are more than 190 territories with which Portugal does not have extradition agreements: Belize, the Camaroons, Suriname and Indonesia are just some (and the most sought by people fleeing justice)”.
Mr Rendeiro has justified his flight from Portugal as a means of clearing his name through international courts (click here).
