A Pakistani citizen applying under the Golden Visa scheme for residence in Portugal has purchased the central Lisbon luxury apartment owned by José Sócrates.
The Heron Castilho apartment was purchased by the former prime minister, currently in Évora jail, in 1998.
The purchase by Makhdoom Ali Khan, a lawyer, magistrate and former attorney general of Pakistan, was completed on August 6 for €675,000.
As the money was transferred from accounts in the UK and Switzerland it has been picked up by the Financial Intelligence Unit of the Judicial Police as a 'suspicious tranaction' and passed to the Unit for Combating Corruption for analysis alongside Khan's Golden Visa application.
The apartment on Lisbon’s Rua Braancamp recently was seized by the tax authorities as property rates of €5,863 had not been paid.
The patrimonial value of the four bedroom property was around €271,000, slightly more than the €235,000 paid by Socrates 17 years ago.
José Sócrates famously was detained in November 2014 as part of 'Operation Marquis' and has been in jail ever since suspected of money laundering, corruption and tax evasion.
Makhdoom Ali Khan may have a while to wait for his Golden Visa as the service all but ground to a halt after revelations of corruption and influence peddling among those charged with running the scheme.
In January 2015, Sócrates managed to get a €250,000 mortgage on the property despite his being in jail facing charges that could well see him facing a long sentence if convicted.
The mortgage was authorised by Caixa Geral de Depósitos despite Sócrates’ bank accounts having been frozen and doubts about his future earning ability if jailed.
