Police raid Portugal's Novo Banco in corruption investigation

LISBON (Reuters) -Portuguese police searched the premises of Novo Banco, the country's fourth-largest bank, as well as the local unit of auditing firm KPMG on Wednesday as part of an investigation into suspected corruption linked to the sale of the lender's assets, prosecutors said.

Novo Banco, purchased by France's BPCE earlier this year, was carved out of collapsed bank BES in 2014 under a state bailout. It has since focused on de-risking, closing subsidiaries abroad, and offloading bad loans and real estate assets under the tough terms of its restructuring.

"The facts in question are likely to constitute the crimes of active and passive corruption in the private sector, aggravated fraud, and money laundering, in the context of the sale of Novo Banco's assets since 2018," the prosecutor's office said in a statement.

Novo Banco and BPCE did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

U.S. private equity firm Lone Star, which bought Novo Banco in 2017, sold it to BPCE in June for around 6.4 billion euros ($7.46 billion).

Prosecutors said Wednesday's search operations involved 100 inspectors and IT specialists, "aiming to identify and seize evidence" at the bank, private residences, a lawyer's office, a firm of official auditors, and 16 other companies.

KPMG confirmed its offices were being searched but said it was not the target of the investigation. It said it was cooperating with the authorities, who were seeking information on one of its clients. 

The collapse of BES under the weight of bad loans and toxic assets has led to several investigations in Portugal and police have searched the offices of Novo Banco and KPMG previously.

The prosecutors declined to provide further comment as the case is sealed under judicial secrecy.

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(Reporting by Sergio Goncalves; Editing by Andrei Khalip and Joe Bavier)