Prime Minister, António Costa, said to parliament today that it was "absolutely scandalous" that the Passos Coelho government had let €10 billion flow out of the country into offshore tax haven accounts between 2011 and 2014.
The Communist leader, Jerónimo de Sousa, added that it was "scandalous that a government which did not hesitate to seize family homes for debts to the Treasury was unable to explain what happened to €10 billion that fled the country."
The PM gave some examples of Passos Coelho's tax collection activities, "A government that was ruthless in collecting overdue car tax for 2012 and 2013, having fined everything and everyone, and that went on to fine those who did not pay motorway tolls, was calm about a missing €10 billion.”
Passos Coelho was furious with the accusation from António Costa and took to muttering audible asides into the microphone, including an accusation that the PM was not PM material.
The deposits that between 2011 and 2014 left the country for sunny tax havens were not investigated by the Treasury even though these transfers had been reported by high street banks to the Bank of Portugal.
Passos Coelho’s government, rather conveniently, failed to published the statistics regarding these transfers and if any tax was due on these deposits, anything before 2013 can no longer be charged.
Left Bloc leader, Catarina Martins, asked the PM to ensure that the matter would not be "resolved with a tax amnesty." Costa assured her that he has asked the General Inspectorate of Finance to find out what happened.
Incredibly, the former Prime Minister, Pedro Passos Coelho, claimed he had no knowledge at all of this capital flight, "When I was in government, I was never aware of any of these situations," he confessed, adding, "I want to tell you that today, in opposition, I am the first person interested in getting everything done right, and say therefore that it is necessary to know why the previous Secretary of State's dispatch was not complied with by the Tax Authority, and why statistical data was not published."
António Costa said that, "Today this information is published because our government has published what, for four years, awaited publication."
At the end of the debate, Jerónimo de Sousa wondered if anyone at all would be held responsible for allowing the outflow of money and not taxing interest accumulated by those who held such sums in their domestic bank accounts, "the coalition parties were not accountable to the people for this scandal. Here we heard the former prime minister say that he did not know, the former Secretary of State (Paulo Nuncio) at the time saying he did not know, and the Tax Authority saying the lack of reporting for four years was “a computer error."
