The former Director of the Aliens and Borders Service (SEF) has asked for the financial help of the SEF union as he claims to have insufficient funds with which to pay a lawyer to defend himself.
Manuel Palos is charged with two counts of accepting bribes for illegal acts in the Golden Visa corruption scandal and has been under house arrest since November 18, awaiting a trial date.
Friends say that Palos "has no money" to defend himself and that family members recently have contacted SEF union officials to see if the union can fund his defence.
It is not known if Palos plans to realise assets such as property, shares, or offshore bank deposits to help towards his legal bills, or whether he qualifies for a state appointed lawyer.
The i news service contacted the president of the union, but Acacio Pereira declined to confirm or deny the request to help Palos, "We make comments in matters related to the internal business of the union."
The former director of the SEF is notable for being the first director of a police department ever to have been arrested in Portugal and has been at home with an electronic bracelet having spent a week in the posh peoples’ jail in Evora.
Palos at least did resign from the SEF rather than wait until after his trial to be fired, assuming he is found guilty. The SEF now has been without a director for more than three weeks.
The new Minister of the Interior Anabela Rodrigues said yesterday that she will not merge the SEF with any other police service, a long running rumour that her predecessor Paulo Macedo did little to quash.
"The government has never taken a decision on this subject” said Rodrigues who does not intend to use the arrest of the SEF director as a timely period in which to make changes.
The minister refused to name a substitute for Manuel Palos, meanwhile he sits at home pondering his fate and working out ways of getting out of paying his legal bills himself.
