Wife of fugitive banker spends night in jail

Maria de Jesus Rendeiro has spent the night in Tires women’s prison ahead of further questioning by Judge Tânia Loureiro Gomes today, at Lisbon Campus de Justiça. The sorry tale (click here) has moved on from Mrs Rendeiro facing the crime of ‘descaminho’ for works of art sold when they had been impounded by the courts due to her fugitive husband’s perceived illegalities. She is now facing charges for two further crimes: money laundering and ‘falsification of works of art’. Mrs Rendeiro’s current tribulations are seen as a tactic by authorities to draw her husband back to Portugal to face ‘justice’ (in this case, various terms in jail for fraud and corruption) and spare her having to ‘pay’ for what essentially are his crimes.