The long-running prosecution into alleged corruption in the issuing of Portuguese “golden” residency visas to wealthy foreigners – most of them Chinese – has been stymied by the fact that charges and the 500-plus pages of evidence for their elaboration have had to be translated into Mandarin Chinese. Nonetheless, deadline for the translation to be presented in court in Lisbon is May 16, and thus the trial could begin this year.
As Portugal’s media has been explaining since the first arrests in November 2014, the golden visa case involves former high-ranking state employees, a former interior minister and a number of businesspeople – both Portuguese and Chinese.
Charges include the trafficking of influences and abuse of power, as well as various degrees of fraud.
