The former Minister for Internal Affairs, Miguel Macedo has been accused of malfeasance, prevarication (giving false statements) and influence peddling when in charge of the Golden Visa scheme which all but collapsed amid investigations and arrests that saw top civil servants and public figures arrested and held in jail.
The charges, which if proved should end Macedo's political career, have been filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation and Prosecution.
Macedo resigned shortly after the scandal broke, while admitting no knowledge or involvement in the discredited scheme, saying that as he was in overall charge he would take responsibility.
Many saw this as the first noble gesture from a Portuguese minister of state for decades but Macedo's resignation may simply have been to try and hide his deep involvement in the affair.
Macedo resigned a year ago and today’s formal accusations, if proved, will show him as being more reviled than if he had said nothing at all.
Macedo is alleged to have broken the law by favouring certain applicants from China, and by intervening in a tax matter concerning the pharmaceutical company Octapharma, the one that employed José Socrates as a consultant before sacking him shortly after he was arrested for corruption and money laundering last November.
Alongside Macedo facing charges in the Golden Visa scandal, is António Figueiredo the former President of the Institute of Notaries, Manuel Palos the former director of the Foreigners and Borders Service, and Maria Antonia Anes the former Secretary- General of the Ministry of Justice.
Originally, eleven arrests were made and Macedo’s eventual arrest gives a total of 12 people involved in running the scheme for their own benefit.
