The state prosecutor in the judicial district of Lisbon claims that in 2013 a conviction rate of 68.82% was achieved in cases of corruption and related crimes, according to a report released today .
The activity report from the Attorney General for the Lisbon district states that in the last four years, there have been 402 charges of corruption and similar financial crimes, and in completed cases, 71.87% of them have resulted in convictions. The acquittal rate was 28.13% .
Economic crime in 2013 in Lisbon was prosecuted in 1,367 cases, made up of 75 cases of corruption and 1,292 cases of scams and frauds against the State and the Social Security department.
The amounts of cash involved was €233 million, divided into crimes against the State (€228 million) and for corruption, a remarkably low (€4.6 million).
The report considers that the justice system, in Lisbon at least, has been getting progressively more consistent in its performance against economic crimes and in particular against crimes of corruption.
For corruption, the prosecution rate is low as there were 308 cases submitted in 2013 with 168 cases filed, 10 suspended and only 75 cases that ended in prosecution. This is better than in previous years as in 2012 there were 47 prosecutions and in 2011 just 33 for corruption
The report, signed by the Attorney General for the district of Lisbon, Francisca Van Dunem, recognises that prosecuting this type of economic crime is time-consuming and there are some difficulties associated with the time that elapses before completing investigations.
Lisbon’s Attorney General believes that the result is a quality one and comes from the special attention that the prosecutors have been giving to economic and financial crime and, in particular, the offence of corruption.
