Banco Privado Português (BPP) was a private

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

bank, based in Lisbon. Founded by João Rendeiro it's currently in liquidation. On 24 July 2009, Paulo Guichard and Salvador Fezas Vital, two former board

committee A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly. A committee is not itself considered to be a form of assembly. Usually, the assembly sends matters into a committee as a way to explore them more ...

members of BPP were suspended by Banco de Portugal, and joined João Rendeiro in the BPP case, to be indicted for falsifying accounts, tax crimes and money laundering. On 15 April 2010, the Banco de Portugal, Portugal central bank, "after verifying the impossibility of recapitalization and recovery efforts of this institution", ordered the liquidation of the Banco Privado Português. On 11 October 2010, the

Polícia Judiciária The (PJ; en, Judiciary Police) is the national criminal investigation police agency of Portugal, focused in fighting serious crimes, including homicides, kidnapping, organized crime, terrorism, illegal drug trade, corruption, cybercrime and ...

conducted searches at the homes of former officials of the BPP under the scope of an investigation into suspected money laundering and fraud. On 11 February 2013, João Rendeiro, Fezas Vital and Paul Guichard, former members of the board

were charged by the Public Ministry with fraud, in a matter of a Collective investment scheme that damaged hundreds of clients for an estimated 41 million euros. In May 2015, assets from João Rendeiro were seized to pay a 4.7 million euro fine from the Bank of Portugal. On 29 September 2021, João Rendeiro announced in his personal blog he would not be returning to Portugal for his trial, and international arrest warrants were issued for him. On 11 December 2021, Portuguese police announced Rendeiro had been arrested in South Africa. The arrest was made at Umhlanga Rocks,

Durban Durban ( ) ( zu, eThekwini, from meaning 'the port' also called zu, eZibubulungwini for the mountain range that terminates in the area), nicknamed ''Durbs'',Ishani ChettyCity nicknames in SA and across the worldArticle on ''news24.com'' from ...

Interpol The International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO; french: link=no, Organisation internationale de police criminelle), commonly known as Interpol ( , ), is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and cri ...

's National Crime Bureau in

Pretoria Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa. Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends eastward into the foot ...

, acting on an

Interpol Red Notice An Interpol notice is an international alert circulated by Interpol to communicate information about crimes, criminals, and threats by police in a member state (or an authorised international entity) to their counterparts around the world. The in ...

. On 13 May 2022, Rendeiro was found dead in his prison cell in Westville Prison,

Westville, KwaZulu-Natal Westville is an area in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, and is just west and inland of Durban. It was a formerly independent town however it became part of the eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality in 2002. Westville is situated 10 km inland fro ...

. The cause of death was ruled to have been suicide. The extradition of Rendeiro to Portugal was planned to be decided in court in June 2022.https://www.rtp.pt/noticias/mundo/joao-rendeiro-morreu-na-prisao-na-africa-do-sul_n1404831 (in Portuguese)

References

External links

BPP Homepage
Defunct banks of Portugal Banks established in 1996 2010 disestablishments in Portugal Banks disestablished in 2010 Former investment banks Portuguese companies established in 1996 {{Portugal-stub