Portugal's Deputy Prime Minister, Paulo Portas, spent an uncomfortable afternoon in Parliament trying his best to answer questions about his failed Golden Visa project which has seen many already wealthy property owners shift their houses, and an elite cadre of public servants enrich themselves in the process.
Portas claimed that the Golden Visa scheme is not a huge money laundering operation and that he certainly was not going to resign over the furore created by last week’s arrests and resignations, including that of Miguel Macedo, the Minister for Internal Affairs.
Today’s three and a half hour session saw Portas as his most vulnerable. He has managed to avoid direct engagement in the submarines affair despite his being the Minister of Defence at the time of the contracts and known bribery payments. He then championed the Golden Visa scheme only to see 30 people arrested last week on charges including influence-peddling, money laundering and embezzlement.
In an online poll today, 75% of respondents opined that Portas should reign over the Golden Visa scandal but when this was suggested in parliament by socialist MP Pita Ameixa he said he has not thought of resigning.
What he has thought of was a list of feeble excuses and half-baked assertions.
Portas suggested to the parliamentary committee that they really should listen to the estate agents that has been shifting €500,000+ properties to non-EC foreigners, "If there are questions about job creation, call the associations in this sector" said Portas, adding that several industry associations say that the scheme "creates wealth" for the country. Well, they would, wouldn't they.
The scheme creates wealth for estate agents for sure but with many Chinese using the facilities offered by the Golden Visa scheme to live elsewhere in Europe while letting or leaving empty their newly acquired properties, the trickle down affect of new money entering the system is treacle-slow.
The Deputy Prime Minister said "It was good for the country to bring €1.107 billion in investment" that "got the economy going and created jobs."
What seldom is mentioned by the politicians is the 5 year 'zero tax on worldwide income' bonus given to already wealthy individuals qualifying under the Golden Visa rules, many of whom can't believe their luck.
On the subject of jobs, when questioned by Left Bloc MP Cecília Honório, Portas did not specify how many had been created from this foreign ‘investment,’-
"Who creates more jobs? Remax or the Left Bloc? Because I think it's Remax because there are people who have to design the houses, because there are people who have to build houses, because there are people who have to equip the houses, because there are people who have to produce materials for the houses, because there are promotion, rehabilitation, recovery and sale activities," said Portas who was not asked how many of the houses sold had been built specifically for sale under the Golden Visa process, the area of the market that he was concentrating on.
Much of the investment Portas refers to has flowed straight back out of the country as foreign property owners take their money on completion of the sale of the property and leave. Jobs may have been secured rather than created as Golden Visa houses are refurbished or kitted out with new furniture but the minister’s confusion over the term ‘investment’ is deliberate and politically driven. The rivers of money flowing into the country are from the purchase of existing assets, it is not new investment as he would have us believe by using the term in nearly every sentence.
Portas did admit that the state and local councils had benefitted by "more than €100 million in local and state taxes," which is a more sensible way of looking at Golden Visas and their benefit to the economy, not the €1.107 billion gross sales price.
The minister restated that the Golden Visa scheme "does not give access to nationality, nor does it have anything to do with money laundering, rather the contrary," adding to this extraordinary statement that the “proof of origin of the money is much more formal and objective in this model than in others,” and concluded that "there are no cases of abuse, irregularity or crime in the Golden Visa scheme which would warrant the ending of the scheme."
Paulo Portas insists that the scheme is foolproof and that no money laundering has taken place. He admitted that the scheme needs tweaking, a conclusion that is hard to avoid with so many arrests and more to come, and that next month he would be asking opposition parties for any useful suggestions.
When asked about Portugal’s rapidly sinking reputation in the light of the current Golden Visa arrests and detentions, Paulo Portas said there plenty of other European countries are on the take, so "no one can throw stones," and said the checks on foreigners and their money instigated by Portugal were more stringent than any other European country with a similar scheme.
The Deputy PM’s lack of appreciation and grasp became even more evident when asked about Miguel Macedo’s resignation, which he said was “of a personal nature" - it was not - and that those arrested for abusing the Golden Visa process are matters for the police and the judiciary, so he could not possibly comment.
No hint of an apology, no remorse that those employed by the state to administer and oversee the Golden Visa scheme may well have been at it, no sensible financial analysis and no question in his mind that he, Portas, is always right and everyone else somehow is rather foolish for not believeing him.
