Ricardo Oliveira, a key figure in the BPN/ SLN scandal facing charges of tax fraud and falsification of documents, was badly hurt in a dramatic explosion at his luxury home in Vale do Lobo, near Loulé, last weekend.
According to newspapers, Oliveira was trying to light a fire using “liquid fuel”. “The product exploded and caused a fire” which literally consumed him.
Graphic details were supplied by Correio da Manhã who claim the businessman “tried to put out the flames on his body” by running out of the house and throwing himself in the swimming pool.
Oliveira’s partner was with him in the house, said the newspaper, and she also suffered burns to her legs and feet.
The newspaper claims Oliveira – who hit the headlines last summer for having 74 vintage Mercedes Benz auctioned off to pay €18 million worth of debts to the State – remained conscious throughout and was the one who called emergency services. Both he and his partner were then transported to Faro Hospital, but the businessman apparently organised an immediate transfer to a specialist burns unit in Lisbon.
Oliveira has been described by the Public Prosecutor as a “key player” in former BPN boss José Oliveira e Costa’s “strategy of buying and concealing real estate” for the BPN/ SLN group. He has been charged with qualified fraud and qualified fiscal fraud and newspapers have quoted the Public Prosecutor saying Oliveira emerged from the banking scandal in possession of €45 million.
