Banker on the run from justice

A Portuguese judge has broken silence two days after a banker who has stashed €21 million in offshores shows no intention to return to Portugal to serve a 3-year prison sentence for fraud and 10-years on other charges including cooking the books at collapsed bank BPP.

The news was broken by the Council of Magistrates (CSM) 48 hours after the ex-leader of BPP was assumed to be out of the country and has shown no signs of returning. He is said to be hiding in the UK.
The banker in question, João Rendeiro had been subject to bail conditions in terms of identity and residence, which did not mean the defendant did not have the right to leave the country without the permission of the courts.
“No fact was brought to the case until 19 July, which made one believe that he would not be subject to the consequences arising from his position in the case, more precisely, that he intended to avoid serving his prison sentence and although the sentence was due to be heard, it was difficult to foresee when and its outcome,” said the magistrate, Tania Loureiro Gomes.
In other words, up to the date in which Rendeiro was found guilty in two different and independent cases and sentenced to a total of 15 years in prison, the magistrate said that there was not the information that would have suggested or predicted that the defendant would flee.”
João Rendeiro had indicated that he was going to the UK for health reasons. “The defendant José Manuel Olivera Rendeiro told the court that he was going to the UK for health reasons”.