European Public Prosecutor links Aldama to network that laundered €27.9 million in Portugal
The European Public Prosecutor implicates Víctor de Aldama in a scheme that diverted €27.9 million to Portuguese accounts to launder funds from hydrocarbon fraud.
Aldama implicated in diverting €27.9 million to Portugal in tax fraud scheme
The European Public Prosecutor has linked Víctor de Aldama and three other businessmen to the alleged diversion of €27.9 million to bank accounts in Portugal, with the aim of laundering illicit gains from the hydrocarbon sector in Spain. According to El Mundo, the prosecutor's decree was submitted on 20 July to judge Santiago Pedraz, who is instructing a case involving alleged fraud of €182 million in the same sector.
Aldama had been detained and held in provisional custody precisely for that case, from which he was released after offering his collaboration in the investigation of the Koldo case, for which he was sentenced to four and a half years in prison—a sentence whose execution was suspended.
A scheme with shell companies in Portugal
According to the European Public Prosecutor's case file, between 2022 and 2024 approximately €27.9 million flowed from Spanish bank accounts to companies based in Portugal. The four companies identified as the source of these transfers are Canary Islands, Salamanca Fuel, Casmar Hidrocarburos and Obaiol 3000. The prosecutor's office describes the operation as "a tax evasion and profit-making scheme" allegedly organised by Aldama and the three other businessmen involved.
The institution concludes that it was "a group of Spanish fuel trading companies that used Portuguese shell companies to make alleged payments for supplies, without proper VAT declaration and with the aim of enabling the return of illegally generated profits to accounts in Spain".
Aldama's company received €7.4 million
De Aldama is specifically linked to Atmosferaudaz Unnipessoal, a Portuguese company of which he is the sole shareholder. Between January 2022 and November 2023, that company received €7.4 million from several companies integrated in the scheme. Formally established to provide consulting and property management services, it does not appear as a buyer of any real estate in Portugal.
The Public Prosecutor notes that the destination of these funds is "dispersed": there are three entities with headquarters in Spain identified and "considerable sums that are unidentified". The Atmosferaudaz account does not reflect "any purchase of fuel that could correspond to supplies for those clients". The account, the decree adds, "is mainly used for the payment of vehicles and rentals, with outflows destined for accounts in Spain, which raises suspicions that we are dealing with a circuit to use the profits generated by VAT fraud".
The money trail: from Portugal to the United Kingdom and beyond
Of the €27.9 million transferred to Portugal, the European Public Prosecutor estimates that at least €9 million has returned to accounts in Spain, €3 million was sent to the United Kingdom and another €3 million was dispersed to accounts opened in Poland, France, Belgium, Lithuania, Italy, Germany, Uruguay and other jurisdictions. €13 million remained in Portugal, of which approximately €11.8 million has been seized as part of this proceeding.
Seven other companies under similar suspicion
The European Public Prosecutor's decree reviews a scheme allegedly similar to that of Atmosferaudaz in seven other Portuguese companies: Labirinto Da Bruma Unipessoal, Detalhes Adequados Lda., Cálculo Corrente Unipessoal Lda., Cifracrobática Unipessoal Lda., Diálogo Erudito Unipessoal, Aristogiraffe Unipessoal Lda. and Aroundpages Lda.
The institution's conclusion is forceful: "Almost all of the companies that appear to be based in Portugal, which received funds from Spanish companies, do not actually carry out any economic activity, nor do the financial flows transferred in their bank accounts correspond to commercial operations, these being mere transfers of funds".
As no tax fraud committed in Portuguese territory was detected, the European Public Prosecutor has referred the proceeding to judge Santiago Pedraz for continuation in Spain.
Source: El Mundo