With a politician in charge who has been in power longer than Salazar, Madeira is once again in the news for its flamboyant interpretation of Portuguese laws. As three administrators and 11 parliamentary deputies go on trial this week for “unauthorised payments and the diversion of public funds in the order of €4.6 million”, the archipelago’s legislative assembly has voted to maintain payments to its deputies that were abolished everywhere else four years ago. The manoeuvre is designed to effectively outlaw the trial in front of Accounts Court judges.
