Vila do Conde, Porto, June 2, 2026 (Lusa) - The Portuguese public prosecutor has charged 22 defendants, including eight companies, with criminal association, money laundering and forgery of documents, offences allegedly committed in connection with the sale of clothing and footwear imported from China in the Varziela industrial park of Vila do Conde, in the region of Porto.
In a statement published on its website on Tuesday, the Porto region district attorney general’s office (PGDP) explains that, according to the indictment, the case concerns undeclared wholesale and retail sales in the Varziela industrial zone, in the municipality of Vila do Conde, mainly of clothing and footwear.
The items, the PGDP states, “originate from China, where they were manufactured – and imported into Portugal via commercial warehouses located within the European Union – by the eight accused companies, which operated warehouses/shops in the Varziela industrial park between 2023 and 2024”.
According to the public prosecutor, “the defendants operate at the level of an international organisation”, requesting in the indictment additional penalties of expulsion “for the defendants of Chinese nationality”.
The prosecution maintains that “to launder the sums, 42 shell companies were set up and used, on several occasions with the use of false documentation”, adding that “sums totalling” more than €88 million “were deposited in the bank accounts used to move the funds”.
"Four of the official suspects – money launderers – are charged with acting jointly and as part of the organisation with a view to transferring funds out of the country via bank accounts they controlled," states the PGDP, citing the indictment.
The public prosecutor’s office states that “these official suspects were tasked, in addition to participating in the incorporation of companies and the opening and use of bank accounts, with collecting cash from commercial establishments and subsequently depositing the sums into these instrumental accounts”.
"They always did this in quantities less than €10,000 (with the aim of circumventing the rules on the prevention and detection of money laundering) either directly at bank branches or via ATMs," explains the indictment.
The remaining defendants – shopkeepers – and the companies they managed “are charged with transferring the sums resulting from undeclared income through the circuit implemented by the organisation, thereby evading their respective tax obligations and, consequently, the payment of taxes”.
An overall sum exceeding €1.56 million has been seized in the case.
Three of the defendants are subject to custodial measures (two of them are in pre-trial detention).
The 22 defendants are charged with criminal association, money laundering and forgery of documents.
JGS/AYLS // AYLS
Lusa
