Berardo in appeal against artworks seizure
Bankrupt Portuguese businessman Joe Berardo has placed a fresh appeal to block the courts from seizing part of his 20th century art collection to pay off bad bank loans.
A Lisbon court had given the green light to the seizure of around 2,000 art works to pay off €962 million of debts owed to State bank Caixa Geral de Depósitos and private banks BCP and Novo Banco.
The works are currently part of the vast collection of mid-20th century artworks currently housed at the Belém Cultural Centre (CCB) known as the Berardo Collection which attracts tens of thousands of visitors from around the world each year.
The mining magnate has decided to present an appeal to the Lisbon Court of Appeals. His legal representatives stated, “Given demonstrable proofs that there has never been any risk of breaking up the collection, we are confident that the Court will change its position on its earlier decision. We will appeal to the Court of Appeals confident in the knowledge that the seizure warrant will be lifted”.
It is the second appeal that Joe Berardo has presented to the court concerning the seizure warrants against his art collection.
In January, the entrepreneur placed another appeal in the Lisbon Court of Appeals against the seizure of two of his properties in Lisbon – a Five-bed apartment on Avenida Infante Santo and a mansion in Lapa – both valued at €4 million.
In October last year, when the seizure of the artworks was ordered, Joe Berardo argued that it was unnecessary to seize paintings and sculptures exhibited in the Berardo Museum that are currently worth over €1.2Bn since it was impossible to break up works of art given Government protection afforded artworks on public display and on loan to the public as such.