This afternoon, the whole of Portugal is on its feet. Police raid broke into the premises of several clubs and companies due to – money laundering!
Let’s go in order. Everything is happening as part of the “Offside” operation, where the main suspect is the Portuguese super-agent Jorge Mendes and his company “Hestifute”.
The fact that he takes care of the careers of Cristiano Ronaldo, Angel di Maria, Bernardo Silva, Ruben Dias, Bruno Fernandes, Renato Sanches speaks volumes about what kind of man he is…
Not only famous football players are his protégés, but also coaches like Jose Mourinho, Gennaro Gattuso, Nuno Espirito Santo, Sergio Conceicao and many others.
So, the big fish in the world of football. And usually that goes with money. And a lot of money. Specifically, Mendes is suspected of laundering 15,000,000 euros through football transfers!
These are a total of 25 transfers that are under investigation (it is not stated exactly which ones), which is why the police broke into the premises of “Hestifute”.
And not just those agencies. Even in the offices of local clubs such as – Braga and Vitoria Guimaraes!
As this is a continuation of the action launched in March 2020, the offices of Porto, Benfica and Sporting were also searched earlier. No exceptions…
That is why the president of Benfica, Luis Filipe Vieira, who was accused of money laundering, fell, after which the role of the first man of the club was taken over by the legendary Rui Costa.
In this case, Mendes is the main target, as it is estimated that the state of Portugal was damaged by significantly more than the mentioned 15,000,000 euros. It is estimated that as much as 200,000,000 euros were laundered ?!
The super-agent allegedly, in agreement with the clubs, tried to hide the income and the real value of the businesses so that both sides would not have to pay the appropriate tax.
That is exactly how the state was deprived, which decided to deal with those who stole it over the years. We will only see if they have the strength to deal with a beast like Mendes…
