Reacting to Lusa agency to the revelations made on Sunday of alleged financial schemes by businesswoman Isabel dos Santos, which also affected member states of the European Union (EU) such as Portugal, Sven Giegold spoke of a “shocking scandal because it affects one of the poorest countries in the world”, Angola.
The German elected official of the European Green Bench, who is an activist in denouncing corruption cases such as the 'LuxLeaks' or the 'Panama Papers', having even shared this 'task' with Portuguese MEP Ana Gomes, stressed that “there are one thing that Portugal should do ”after the release of the 'Luanda Leaks'.
"The Portuguese Government must end the 'gold' visas [residence permits granted to foreign investors] because this allows the occurrence of these types of cases", warned Sven Giegold.
According to the MEP, these types of programs “make it easier for businesses in Europe to go unchecked by bank supervisors”, while also facilitating “dirty money transactions”.
"It is unacceptable that the Portuguese Government, as a center-left government, supports this type of system", insisted Sven Giegold, arguing that "Portugal has an important role" in this financial scandal in Angola.
For Sven Giegold, the European Parliament and the European Commission must also act.
With regard to the European assembly, the MEP considered that there should be a “public debate” on the case at the next plenary session, which runs from 10 to 13 February, but stressed that this depends on the agenda and availability of political groups.
Regarding the Commission, Sven Giegold suggested changes to the laws to combat tax avoidance and evasion, which in his opinion should be stricter and harmonized throughout the European Union, taking into account that "there are many differences in tax regimes" between States -members.
The German elected official also defended the application of sanctions, in the case of the 'Luanda Leaks', to "banks and supervisors who, allegedly, did not follow the law to combat money laundering".
"The documents revealed show that the money came from dubious sources and this shows that these entities, which should have respected the law, did not take the necessary measures", he said.
The International Investigative Journalism Consortium unveiled on Sunday more than 715 thousand files, under the name 'Luanda Leaks', detailing financial schemes by Isabel dos Santos and her husband, Sindika Dokolo, which will have allowed to withdraw money from the Angolan public purse, using tax havens.
According to the investigation, Isabel dos Santos set up a concealment scheme that allowed her to divert more than 100 million dollars to a company based in Dubai and whose only declared shareholder was the Portuguese Paula Oliveira, friend of Isabel dos Santos and administrator from the NOS operator.
