By Aliyu DANLADI
Former Portuguese Minister of Internal Administration Miguel Macedo, was acquitted of malfeasance and influence-peddling in the case of gold visa corruption on Friday.
The court in Lisbon said that it was not proven that Macedo, who resigned in 2014 following the charges brought against him by the Public Prosecutor’s Office, had committed the crimes.
Former president of the Institute of Registries and Notaries (IRN) Antonio Figueiredo and former secretary of the Ministry of Justice Maria Antonia Anes were sentenced to jail terms with suspension.
A total of 21 defendants were charged in the gold visa corruption case.
Since the launch of the gold visa scheme in October 2012, Portugal has raised investment amounting to some 4 billion euros.
The gold visa scheme, officially called Investment Residency Authorisation (ARI), is a fast-track residency visa scheme for large-scale investors.
ARIs are available to non-European Union residents, who either buy real estate in Portugal worth 500,000 euros, or 350,000 euros.
If the property is 30 years old, or make capital transfers of 1 million euros, if certain cultural or commercial investment criteria are fulfilled.
