Portugal's State prosecutor has charged 11 journalists for ‘violation of judicial secrecy’ in the Golden Visa corruption case.
According to the District Attorney General in Lisbon the defendants had access to privileged information and despite knowing that that inquiry was covered by the rules of judicial secrecy, the defendants went ahead and published details in the press in April and June 2014.
The Gold Visa case, or Operation Labyrinth, ended up implicating 17 people who now face trial on a variety of charges related to the processing of applications for foreigners wishing to buy into a specially designed tax-efficient residency scheme.
The Golden Visa programme was suspended after the arrests and later re-launched with tighter rules leading to an even greater backlog of applications, many of which take up to two years to be processed.
Those implicated include the former Minister of Internal Affairs, Miguel Macedo, the former president of the Institute of Registrars and Notaries, António Figueiredo, the former Borders and Foreigners Service chief Jarmela Palos, the former Secretary General of the Ministry of Justice, Maria Antónia Anes and a Chinese businessman.
Miguel Macedo laudably resigned over the affair, saying he had done nothing wrong but as he was in charge he was responsible. Months later he too was arrested and cautioned.
The State prosecutor has evidence of active and passive corruption, improper receipt of benefit, embezzlement, abuse of power and influence peddling.
Despite the unappealing time delays in processing the Golden Visa applications, the fiscal deal is so good for many non-European foreigners that it is still worth waiting.
As with so many high-profile cases involving important and well-connected people, the years seem to slip by and the public is in danger of forgetting what the case was all about in the first place.
