The Secretary-General of the Communist Party, Jerónimo de Sousa, blamed the recent left and the right wing governments for the "spread of a network of corruption" across the country, and he does seem to have a point.
The seasoned Communist leader argued that there is a deteriorating political and institutional situation from a government without authority or credibility caused by a visible spread of a network of corruption, the proliferation of secret webs, of cronyism, tax fraud and evasion.
De Sousa pointed to the current Golden Visa arrests and revelations leading to the arrest of top state officials.
"Golden visas are the hallmark of this government and have proved to be an open door for money laundering, through the acquisition of luxury property and are a source of corruption," said de Sousa.
The communist leader added that the ruling parties do not govern for the people, but to defend powerful interests, adding that the possible privatisation of TAP "is another crime against national interests."
Jerónimo de Sousa said the Golden Visa case clearly shows that the government is discredited at home and abroad, should resign and call an early election, asking about the involvement of top government figures who gave instructions to the secret police (SIS) service which reports directly to the PM, to wipe computer records?"
The Golden Visa enquiry is continuing with income and asset statements submitted to the Constitutional Court made available in the press today. The former president of the Institute of Registration and Notaries, Antonio Figueiredo, seems to have emerged as the prime suspect, not only because he managed to juggle calls from his eight mobile phones.
Police, when searching the offices of the Foreigners and Borders Service did not have to look too hard to find envelopes with €100 notes inside, thought to be marks of appreciation from a grateful client for the overworked staff and stories have started to emerge of Chinese buyers taken to the cleaners by unscrupulous estate agents and builders who have been selling properties at upto double their market vales so that the €500,000 Golden Visa threshold is reached.
Three enraged Chinese businessmen claim they have been stitched up and have hired a lawyer in order to cancel their promissory contracts.
In October 2015, the 'Pu Hua Bao' newspaper aimed mainly at the Chinese community in Portugal, warned inbound Chinese citizens to be careful with these 'residence permits' as they may not be as golden as they were being described by product champion and deputy PM Paulo Portas.
The paper described two houses sold to one Chinese buyer in Lisbon for €250,000 each which he later found out were worth €150,000 each. His sister did the same, so this family spent €1 million on property worth just €600,000 - "The honeymoon with Portugal turned into a nightmare," wrote the paper.
In July this year, Ji Lin paid €500,000 for an apartment in Albufeira which he later discovered has a market value of €230,000. He found out only later when, his suspicions aroused, he commissioned two independent valuations.
The business selling the apartment to Ji LIn for more than double its market value was Empreendimentos Almorávi of Albufeira run by José Brazão who unsurprisingly has remained uncontactable to the gentlemen of the press.
Comments
wow enough scandal here for a mini series
one thing for sure, I cannot see many Chinese taking golden visas now...looks like the political class have made another fine mess - how do they get elected
Being Portugal and it dealing with China - this was always an accident waiting to happen. That should have been, and presumably from now on, will be supervised by the EU.
Hence the one elite judge, also sorting out Socrates' fraud. With all info from outside Portugal on a strict need to know basis. As few here can be trusted ...
After all. Some legit Chinese soon spotted they were ripped off and warned other cosher Chinese. This message will have spread - as with expats warning other expats about dodgy dealing and their mal treatment here.
So many hundreds of dodgies being encouraged to leave China - Macao or mainland - to avoid investigation into their irregularities. Not all millionaires but buying at any price as settling in Portugal was never on the agenda.
The aim was to get into Europe as bona fide European citizens - able to travel, work and settle anywhere else !
Gee ... thanks Portugal ! NOT ...!
as we all know there is no corruption in china, so it must have been a shock to them to have to deal with corruption here