Miguel Macedo, Portugal’s Minister for Internal Administration, has resigned over the Golden Visa affair, while trying to distance himself from the enquiry.
Macedo's announcement came just days after the Judicial Police arrested 11 people last Thursday, suspected variously of corruption, money laundering, influence peddling and embezzlement in connection with the granting of Golden Visas.
Operation Labyrinth already has snared the national director of the Aliens and Borders Service (SEF) Manuel Jarmela Palos, who is charged with two counts of accepting bribes; the Secretary-general of the Ministry of Justice, Maria Antónia Anes, and the President of the Institute of Registries and Notaries, António Figueiredo.
The operation continues apace with some of the suspects arrested last week being heard in court in weekend sessions run by the tireless Judge, Carlos Alexandre.
Miguel Macedo earlier had offered his resignation to Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho when the arrests were made which had involved the deployment of up to 200 officers.
Macedo was not arrested but is uncomfortably close to some those who were, through personal and business links, and of course his is the ministry under which the Golden Visa programme operates.
The now ex-Minister of course assumes no blame or personal responsibility for any activities that are being investigated in the Golden Visa enquiry but correctrly notes that the authority of his position had been diminished.
Pedro Passos Coelho accepted the resignation of his Minister and already has reported the event to the President’s office, while promising a replacement soon.
Macedo made a brief statement to reporters outside his workplace this morning, saying that he was not guilty or responsible for anything at all to do with this Golden Visa business, but had followed the PM’s advice, pondered his position over the weekend and now had decided to follow through with his earlier offer to quit (while ahead.)
The Minister did add that, "despite having no personal responsibility, at the political level things are different," saying that his authority had been diminished the recent revelations. Hence he said that he is resigning, so as "not to undermine the government."
If Macedo really has quit on a matter of principle, then clearly he has done the right thing. If he has quit in return for being excluded from future Operation Labyrinth investigations then that is another matter.
Career in brief:
Miguel Bento Martins da Costa Macedo e Silva, or simply 'Miguel Macedo' was the leader of JSD, the youth wing of PSD. His first experience in the government was in the first cabinet of Aníbal Cavaco Silva as Junior Secretary of State of Minister Couto dos Santos between 1990 and 1991.
Afterwards he became active in local politics and was elected city councilor of Braga, from 1993 to 1997.
In 2002, he returned to national politics with the PSD as State Secretary of Justice under Minister Celeste Cardona and Minister José Pedro Aguiar-Branco.
He was the Deputy of Braga from 1987 to 2002, and again from 2005 onwards.
When Pedro Passos Coelho was elected president of PSD, Miguel Macedo was elected leader of Parliament. His negative vote for the approval of the Programa de Estabilidade e Crescimento [Stability and Growth Programme] (PEC) of the current president at that time, José Sócrates, meant the fall of his government and the call for early elections.
On 16 November 2014, he announced his resignation following a series of corruption allegations and investigations into some of his business and ministerial partners.
