One of Portugal’s top Constitutional Court judges has failed to submit income and asset details and another omitted to submit details of a bank account.
Both therefore have failed to fulfill their obligations as judges in the State’s employ yet currently are deciding whether the Board of Directors of Caixa Geral de Depósitos should or should not have to submit income and asset statements.
The judges are in the bizarre position of submitting their income and asset statements to themselves as employees of State-owned companies and senior figures paid by the State must send in details to the Constitutional Court for analysis.
Judge Lino Ribeiro did not specify the income he earned in 2012, the first and only statement he delivered. At the time, he was still at the Supreme Administrative Court.
The judge did provide details of the 20 properties he owns in Lisbon, Vila Nova de Gaia and in Rio de Janeiro. There is no note of the total value of his property portfolio but it is safe to assume the judge can be ranked as a millionaire while deciding on the Caixa directors who already have been criticised for their ‘millionaire salaries.’
Judge Gonçalo de Almeida Ribeiro failed to disclose any bank accounts to which he has access, either as the primary, secondary or third named account holder.
Law no.4/83 imposes on judges, the President of the Republic, the Prime Minister, MPs and administrators of public companies, such as Caixa Geral the need to list their investment portfolios, bank deposits and other financial investments if these total more than 50 times the minimum wage.
The media today is asking if the judges at the Constitutional Court that are bound by the declaration of assets scheme are not minded to follow the rules, how can they objectively judge the Caixa Geral directors?
Gonçalo de Almeida Ribeiro later explained that he had so little in his bank account that he did not have to declare it.
Judge Lino Ribeiro said he had not filled in his judge's salary but as this is public knowledge, he denied doing anything wrong but would correct the error.
