The Portuguese police said the scheme pretended to provide TAP services to Sonair, a Sonangol subsidiary, enabling the Angolan oil company send large amounts of cash to Portugal.

The investigation found out that Sonair paid TAP more than €25 million without the former apparently providing any actual services, he police said.

The public prosecutor added that the money Sonair sent TAP was then laundered though another company called Worldair.

Worldair, after taking unbelievably high commissions (about 2/3 of the total) then sent to remaining money back out of Portugal through offshores before it once again came back to bank accounts in Portugal to buy real estate, the police told reporters.

During the investigation, the police seized nine properties, all in the name of companies involved in the laundry process.