Among the recommendations in the report from the Inspector General for Internal Administration, requested by new minister Anabela Rodrigues, is the creation of an advisory board of the great and the good from the legal, financial, tax and policing disciplines.
The report recommends legislative changes to the whole scheme and the preparation of a "clear and transparent" Golden Visa idiot’s guide to show how to process applications.
The report proposes an amendment to the legislative framework and the creation of the advisory board of those with unimpeachable track records.
The advisory board would ‘reconfigure’ the current monitoring group i.e. get rid of them and appoint people capable of monitoring the work in the wake of the corruption scandal that saw 11 people arrested on various charges.
The report suggested that there really should be a "clear and transparent" Procedures Manual to show staff how to process applications without pocketing bribes.
The report also mentioned that there should be some sort of national training plan for those managers and their underlings involved in Golden Visa processing and that the computer systems at the Foreigners and Borders Service (SEF) should be audited.
Following Operation Labyrinth which led to the arrest of 11 people suspected variously of corruption, money laundering, influence peddling and embezzlement, including the former director of the SEF, the replacement minister Anabela Rodrigues asked for a report and recommendations.
Rodrigues said she would take into account the conclusions of the report and said that "The Government has acknowledged the usefulness of introducing some changes in the Golden Visa legal regime and of course the conclusions of the report will be considered."
Former head of the SEF Jarmela Palos, currently under house arrest, was nabbed on November 13, 2104 along with the president of the Institute of Notaries, António Figueiredo, who is on probation and the general secretary of the Ministry of Justice, Maria Antonia Anes, who is under house arrest sporting an electronic bracelet.
Following this development of the police operation, Minister Miguel Macedo resigned from his post of Minister of Internal Affairs, claiming that his authority had been diminished by the involvement of people who are close to the investigations.
The scheme was launched by deputy prime minister Paulo Portas who said that "Golden Visas are not an open door for money laundering," yet later, the Economist magazine reported that the scheme was a "deep embarrassment" for Passos Coelho whose government trumpeted the programme as a resounding success."
But "success became a scandal" after Operation Labyrinth culminated in the resignation of Minister Miguel Macedo and the exposure of greed and corruption among those of Portugal's public servants charged with running the scheme.
