Conspicuous for his absence since the scandal broke last Thursday, ‘Golden Visa ambassador’ and Deputy Prime Minister Paulo Portas will be emerging from the shadows later this afternoon to answer questions in parliament.
Opposition MPs, particularly the PCP communists who called for the session, want to know why Portas has been actively promoting a scheme for the last two years that is so open to corruption.
As PCP’s João Oliveira told Público, his party will be confronting Portas over “his political responsibility in this case”.
Oliveira claims Portas has to answer for having “created the mechanism for Golden Visas, over which he has been touting propaganda” ever since.
And MPs not aligned to the coalition will be probing into the declarations of one of the principal defendants, SEF immigration service boss Manuel Palos, who told Diário de Notícias that he “had political instructions to do everything to dynamise Golden Visas”.
Contacted at his office for a response by DN, Portas is quoted as saying: “There was certainly no political instruction from here.”
But as all are aware, this is not the first time Portas has been linked with an investigation into allegations of large-scale corruption.
The CDS leader is still a key figure in the confusion that played out in the so-called ‘Submarine Scandal’ and other controversies have dogged him throughout his political career.
His page on Wikipedia has a whole section devoted to “Controversies”.
Meantime, more details are coming out on the ongoing Golden Visa investigation.
According to newspapers this morning, super judge Carlos Andrade has introduced bail conditions “never before imposed in Portugal”, in a bid to avoid any further perversion of justice.
Of the 11 defendants taken in for five-days of questioning, those who are to be released have been told in no uncertain terms that they will be prohibited from having any contact with the secret services, SEF, justice department or any magistrates or public prosecutors.
If former SEF boss Palos or any of the others likely to be released under house arrest are found to break these bail terms, they will be returned to jail, writes Correio da Manhã this morning.
CM reveals a total of 30 people have been made “arguidos” (defendants) in the case. One of these is Bruno Sá, the IT specialist working for the notaries institute (IRN) who recently gained notoriety for having saved CITIUS – the Justice portal that was alleged to have been ‘sabotaged’ after it imploded in September during the re-drawing of the judicial map.
As Paulo Portas prepares himself for the kind of grilling in plain sight that no-one could possibly relish, Opposition MPs will be consolidating their copious lists of questions.
This parliamentary session will be one to watch.
