Paulo de Morais claims that the State Budget is the greatest source of corruption in Portugal
Morais is on the campaign trail to become the next President of the republic of Portugal on a stern anti-corruption ticket and has a habit of pointing out facts that are so obvious that they are too big to comprehend.
Morais’ says that the State Budget has been the main instrument of corruption in Portugal and he compared it to a manger which feeds select businesses and individuals.
"The Portuguese are buffeted with taxes and companies are martyred with a huge tax burden just to feed a state budget which then becomes a huge manger to feed certain economic groups," said Morais, during a visit to Lagos council.
The presidential candidate assured us that if he elected as President he would require the Government to present a State Budget that was "completely different to those of the last twenty years."
"If I am elected, the budget will no longer have IMI exemptions for real estate funds, there will be no further charges for school books for basic education - there is a range of privileges listed in the state budget which has to end," said Morais.
Paulo de Morais considers it as essential to fight the endemic corruption in Portugal which he calls the biggest single problem in society with the privileges enjoyed some economic groups through the State Budget resulting from the "corrupt and complicit collaboration" from members of the political class.
In summary, Morais is saying that politicians are using the State Budget to hand out contracts to their friends, as can be seen with the Lena Group and the former PM José Sócrates.
In parliament there are "dozens of MPs whose main activity is to do business in the name of certain economic groups and therefore, violate their mandate.
"It was corruption that brought us to the economic crisis. More than 20% of public debt comes from cases of corruption, which I have enumerated and systematically denounced," concluded Morais.
The presidential candidate did add one thing about the vote for the next President later this month - the greatest threat "is abstention."
