According to the Foreigners and Borders Service (SEF), one of the citizens is also accused of committing crimes of computer forgery and possession of a prohibited weapon.
“The investigation, carried out by the Foreigners and Borders Service (SEF), began in October 2018, one of the accused being a resident in Faro, where he works as an official accountant, and the other resident in the United Kingdom, being the owner of a commercial establishment in Amadora”, in the district of Lisbon, according to the SEF statement.
According to the information released, the two accused citizens acted “in conjunction with efforts” and “helped the regularisation of more than a hundred foreign citizens, using fraudulent documents that simulated employment relationships that, in fact, never existed”.
“During the investigation, in addition to the company in the Algarve and the initial visa requests, more "ghost" companies and various irregularities were detected for the purpose of regularisation in the national territory", the SEF also adds.
…and this has taken four years for a formal accusation - how many more years before the case gets to court?
By Paul Rees from Lisbon on 24 Oct 2022, 09:41
Paul.
It will never get to court unless the establishment changes. The largest banking fraud in Portugal took 12 years to get to court, with thousands of documents, witness statements and other evidence collected but the rules say that if it doesn't go to court in 10 years then the case is dropped. What where the governments prosecutors during this time - purposefully delaying the proceedings maybe?
By David Peter Clark from Algarve on 28 Oct 2022, 17:09