“To date, more than 20 companies controlled by the various suspects identified in the investigation have been identified, through which more than 300 properties were acquired and more than two hundred fraudulent financing contracts were contracted, with a global value of around 40 million euros”, according to a statement from the Judiciary Police (PJ).

The authority was responsible for a criminal investigation in Portugal carried out operation “Orange” on Tuesday, in which four men and two women were detained on suspicion of “crimes of criminal association, qualified fraud, money laundering and forgery of documents, in the real estate sector, in the Algarve".

In this operation, seven house searches and two companies were also carried out, dozens of properties, 14 vehicles, a vessel, computer equipment, and a large collection of evidentiary documents were seized.

According to the judiciary, what is at stake is the investigation of “an organised group”, with various nationalities, residing in the Algarve and with connections to the diaspora in other countries, who created in Portugal “an economic organization in the real estate sector, completely financed fraudulently by credits bankers”.

The PJ explains that the organisation's “modus operandi” was the creation of companies governed by Portuguese law, through which they acquired hundreds of properties, whose properties, through simulated deals, they immediately transferred to third parties.

“In their name, and using false documents, they took out housing loans from Portuguese banking institutions, in amounts much higher than the initial acquisition of the goods, appropriating the difference, in addition to the proceeds resulting from the subsequent exploitation of the properties as accommodation. tourist and residential”, explains the PJ.

In a statement published on the website of the Évora regional Department of Investigation and Criminal Action (DIAP), that body said that, on Tuesday, several search measures were carried out in the Algarve, namely in Albufeira, Carvoeiro (Lagoa), Portimão and Quarteira (Loulé).

According to the PJ, the detainees will now undergo a first judicial interrogation with a view to applying coercive measures.