Those who hold political and public positions in Portugal will be obliged to declare increases in assets that exceed 50 times the minimum wage.
The Parliament of Portugal unanimously approved today a law that toughens the penalties for political office holders and senior public officials that conceal substantial increases in assets, which can reach five years in prison.
The new law, which starts from the proposals of eight parties and an unregistered deputy, criminalizes the so-called “illicit enrichment” of political and public positions, that they will be obliged to declare any increase in equity that exceeds 50 times the minimum wage, that is to say, that exceeds 33,250 euros.
They will also have to declare the promises of patrimonial advantage – when it is agreed to receive that amount in the future – made during their mandate or in the following three years or if there has been a reduction in their debt greater than that amount.
The law applies both to changes in assets that occur in national territory and abroad, and the declaration must specify the origin of these changes.
Charges that do not meet this standard They may be sentenced to a prison term of between one and five years.
In addition, all unjustified capital increases that are detected and exceed 50 times the minimum wage will be taxed for the purposes of personal income tax (Personal Income Tax) at the special rate of 80%.
Disagreements about the constitutionality of the new law
The norm was approved unanimously, although the largest conservative party, the PSD (center-right), warned that there are some sections of the norm that may be unconstitutional because, in its opinion, violates the principle of presumption of innocence, while the socialists defend that the text respects the Magna Carta.
The Constitutional Court has already vetoed previous laws on two occasions (2012 and 2015) that sought to criminalize illicit enrichment.
The regulation approved this Friday culminates a decade of attempts to toughen this crime in Portugal, where the president, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, urged on several occasions to move forward with the approval of this law.
“I have been defending him for ten years, too much time has been lost,” he warned last April.
The law comes in the midst of the so-called “Operation Marquis” involving former Prime Minister José Sócrates, who led the socialist government between 2005 and 2011.
Socrates was accused by the Public Prosecutor’s Office of 31 crimes of corruption, tax fraud, laundering and falsification of documents, after receiving bribes of up to 34 million euros that allowed him to enrich himself, but the investigating judge threw down most of this accusation.
Judge Ivo Rosa ruled that Socrates should only sit on the bench for three crimes of money laundering and three of document forgery, a decision that has been appealed by the Prosecutor’s Office. (I)
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