Leaving no stone unturned, and with no hope of recourse for tens of thousands of debtors, Portugal's court system neatly has been bypassed by new legislation and in the last seven months €115 million of alleged debt to the state has been removed from citizens’ bank accounts.
With the new Civil Procedure Code coming into force last September claims against debtors have become swift and easy to execute with no need for the debtor actually to have his case looked at by a judge, and no opportunity for the alleged debtor to argue his case.
The opportunity for misusing the new fast-track system is tempting and a process which once took months now takes a little over a week with a consequent downgrading of the citizen’s rights to a fair hearing over a debt that may not, under the previous 'going to court' system, be enforceable.
Since September 2013, 51,811 bank accounts have been raided with an estimate that by the end of 2014, €250 million could have been taken from bank accounts.
The banking sector is happy to oblige. In order to find out which bank the debtor has an account, a software application has been introduced and accepted by the Bank of Portugal that highlights accounts of debtors who are listed on the database of the Chamber of Solicitors.
This cross-checking of personal information has enabled the substantial increase in the number of seizures which totals €773,000 for every working day.
