A Swiss businessman and the company he manages, based in Beja, will be tried for the crime of abuse of fiscal trust, for undue retention of resources that should have been delivered to the Tax and Customs Authority (AT).
According to the indictment issued by the Public Prosecutor's Office of Beja, to which Lidador Notícias (LN) We had access, Pascal René Felley, of 58 year old, residing in Hungary, known as the “King of Fruit”, seen the countless companies and businesses linked to the sector, as manager of Olicorsos,Lda, withheld and did not deliver to AT the amount of 18.554,81 euros, relating to tax on property income.
In 15 February 2013, the defendant company, managed by Pascal René Felley, signed two land lease contracts in the municipality of Ferreira do Alentejo, one of which is at Herdade do Corveiro, having paid 92.774,02 euros relating to rent 2022, withholding at source 25% relating to property income tax.
The company delivered the declaration, but its manager retained the amounts that did not reach the AT coffers, which triggered the criminal process after the land rental company made a deduction from the total IRC collection, which allowed him to recover his 18.554,81 euros, not handed over by the defendants.
The trial begins on Monday at the Local Criminal Court of the Beja Court, risking Pascal René Felley, a prison sentence of up to five years.
Fairfruit Industry, a ruinous investment in Beja
In April 2017 the Beja City Council provided a space for 10.400 m2 in the business reception area, to install a product packaging factory there, that prior to breeding near 35 jobs and which is being abandoned. The work cost more than 13,7 million, received over 8,2 million euros of financial support from the European Union through the Competitiveness and Internationalization Operational Program.
A Fairfruit Group, based in Switzerland and present in Hungary, Austria, France, Spain and Portugal, where the focus was the production of stone fruit and also olive oil.
Teixeira Correia
(journalist)
