Portugal’s finance minister Maria Luís Albuquerque hit back at suggestions that the Golden Visa scheme was in any way under threat, despite Operation Labyrinth which has uncovered a web of corruption, illegal payments, misuse of positions of trust and money laundering.
Albuquerque was asked by a Latvian MEP at the European Parliament in Brussels whether perhaps this scheme should be a temporary one and end soon due to the adverse publicity generated.
The response was that the Golden Visa programme had proved useful to the country, and Albuquerque said she did not see any reasons to close it in the short or medium term.
The finance minister admitted that the programme had "turned out to be in the news for all the wrong reasons," but pointed out that the matter is being handled by the judicial system, and as for the scheme itself, it had served "to revive parts of the housing market that were deeply depressed."
Noting that the Golden Visa programme also attracts "investments in other areas," Maria Luís Albuquerque emphasised the scheme’s importance for "the recovery of the housing market" and that "the programme for Portugal has been useful, to stimulate the market and attract capital.”
Responding specifically to a question from the upstart Latvian on whether this type of programme, used also in other member states, should be but temporary while tackling the crisis, Albuquerque said the government has no plans to end the scheme in the foreseeable future.
Albuquerque believes that the control mechanisms covering the origin of capital are "extremely strict" and that they rely on the cooperation of various entities including the police.
Operation Labyrinth led to several high profile arrests and has started to unpick a web of corruption and illegal payment to 'fast track' certain applications. The scheme has been taken advantage of by several senior civil servants and institute heads. Already one minister has resigned.
Among the 11 detained were the national director of the SEF, Manuel Jarmela Palos, the president of the Institute of Notaries, António Figueiredo, and the general secretary of the Ministry of Justice, Maria Antónia Anes.
The Minister of Internal Affairs, Miguel Macedo resigned from his post, saying that the scam was nothing to do with him at all, but that he was leaving his job as his authority had been undermined.
The Golden Visa scheme has been set up to attract rich people from outside of the European Union who could afford a property for €500,000 or more. This gives them a range of benefits including a period of zero taxation on their worldwide income.
See also:
http://www.algarvedailynews.com/property-news/956-golden-visas-offer-the-keys-to-europe
