‘Golden Visa’ Chinese man arrested for fraud (UPDATE)

As monied Chinese investors embrace Portugal’s Golden Visa programme, the ‘downside’ of the scheme has become all too apparent. Polícia Judiciária arrested a 42-year-old Chinese man in Cascais last week after an international warrant for his arrest was issued by Interpol. The man is wanted for a series of frauds in China and the Chinese authorities are now seeking his extradition from Portugal so that he can serve a 10-year prison sentence.

In response to the news, João Semedo of the Bloco da Esquerda said the golden visa scheme was transforming the country into a "paradise for international conmen" and money launderers.

As Portuguese MEP Ana Gomes predicted at the outset of the Golden Visa initiative launched by deputy prime minister Paulo Portas last year: “There might be all sorts of corrupt and even criminal organisations behind those who are benefiting ... It might simply be another very dangerous avenue to import additional corruption and criminality into the EU.”

Talking to the BBC before this latest scandal, Gomes stressed her concerns were related to other European countries operating similar schemes - not just to Portugal.

“Ana Gomes says cash-strapped European countries are so focussed on reviving their property industries that they are not looking at the potential risks,” writes BBC interviewer Susana Mendonça in a report entitled "The winners and losers of Portugal's golden visa scheme".

Despite assurances by Portuguese communities minister José Cesário that there is “nothing to worry about” and that all incoming applications for the visa programme are “scrutinised”, last week’s arrest would indicate procedures need to be tightened. According to the authorities, Interpol only issued the international arrest warrant a month after Xiaodong Wang was given his golden visa, but investigators in China would have been aware of his alleged crimes before that.

Reporting on the arrest, Rádio Renascença claimed Wang “had bought the property that gave him the right for a visa with money obtained illegally”.

Wang was arrested last Thursday by the PJ’s anti-corruption squad and appeared before Lisbon’s Tribunal de Relação on Friday for a preliminary hearing.

Público reports that if the court decides to go ahead with his extradition - which he is understood to be contesting - the order will have to be signed by Justice Minister Paula Teixeira da Cruz.

Meantime, demand for Golden Visas is “so high” that Chinese businessman Brian Tang told the BBC he has opened a branch of his immigration agency in Lisbon precisely in order to put applicants in touch with Portuguese estate agents.

“There is a huge appetite from China coming over to Portugal,” said Tang. “Eighty per cent of the applicants are Chinese.”

Part of the appeal, he told Mendonça, was the “flexibility” of the programme. Foreigners only have to be in Portugal for seven days in the first year of residency.

It is the “flexibility” that has worried people like Ana Gomes. “I think it is a race to the bottom. It is actually very anti-EU,” she told Mendonça. “Each country is trying to outdo the other in terms of better conditions.”

While in Portugal and Spain investors have a minimum spend of €500,000 on a property to get a visa, in Cyprus it is €300,000, and in Greece it is €250,000 - and with this outlay, the non-EU nationals receive free circulation throughout Europe as well as other fiscal benefits.

Golden Visa ‘update’

The very first Golden Visa was issued to Indian businessman Muthu Nesam last year, but since then, “the vast majority of golden visas have been attributed to Chinese business people”, writes Público. Of the 542 visas conceded by the middle of February this year, 433 were to Chinese, 23 were to Russians, 14 went to Brazilians and another 14 to Angolans.

By the end of 2013, the 417 visas attributed by the State represented a total investment of €316 million. Of this amount, 90% referred to the acquisition of property, the rest to the transfer of capital, writes Público, adding that right now, there are 400 Chinese awaiting decisions on golden visa applications.

Since the start of the scheme, 11 applicants have been refused, adds Público, one of them after inquiries discovered he was a member of a Chinese triad involved in organised crime since 1990.

Chinese ripped off in Golden Visa property scams

The Secretary-General of the Communist Party, Jerónimo de Sousa, blamed the recent left and the right wing governments for the "spread of a network of corruption" across the country, and he does seem to have a point.

The seasoned Communist leader argued that there is a deteriorating political and institutional situation from a government without authority or credibility caused by a visible spread of a network of corruption, the proliferation of secret webs, of cronyism, tax fraud and evasion.

De Sousa pointed to  the current Golden Visa arrests and revelations leading to the arrest of top state officials.

"Golden visas are the hallmark of this government and have proved to be an open door for money laundering, through the acquisition of luxury property and are a source of corruption," said de Sousa.

The communist leader added that the ruling parties do not govern for the people, but to defend powerful interests, adding that the possible privatisation of TAP "is another crime against national interests."

Jerónimo de Sousa said the Golden Visa case clearly shows that the government is discredited at home and abroad, should resign and call an early election, asking about the involvement of top government figures who gave instructions to the secret police (SIS) service which reports directly to the PM, to wipe computer records?"

The Golden Visa enquiry is continuing with income and asset statements submitted to the Constitutional Court made available in the press today. The former president of the Institute of Registration and Notaries, Antonio Figueiredo, seems to have emerged as the prime suspect, not only because he managed to juggle calls from his eight mobile phones.

Police, when searching the offices of the Foreigners and Borders Service did not have to look too hard to find envelopes with €100 notes inside, thought to be marks of appreciation from a grateful client for the overworked staff and stories have started to emerge of Chinese buyers taken to the cleaners by unscrupulous estate agents and builders who have been selling properties at upto double their market vales so that the €500,000 Golden Visa threshold is reached.

Three enraged Chinese businessmen claim they have been stitched up and have hired a lawyer in order to cancel their promissory contracts.

In October 2015, the 'Pu Hua Bao' newspaper aimed mainly at the Chinese community in Portugal, warned inbound Chinese citizens to be careful with these 'residence permits' as they may not be as golden as they were being described by product champion and deputy PM Paulo Portas.

The paper described two houses sold to one Chinese buyer in Lisbon for €250,000 each which he later found out were worth €150,000 each. His sister did the same, so this family spent €1 million on property worth just €600,000 - "The honeymoon with Portugal turned into a nightmare," wrote the paper.

In July this year, Ji Lin paid €500,000 for an apartment in Albufeira which he later discovered has a market value of €230,000. He found out only later when, his suspicions aroused, he commissioned two independent valuations.

The business selling the apartment to Ji LIn for more than double its market value was Empreendimentos Almorávi of Albufeira run by José Brazão who unsurprisingly has remained uncontactable to the gentlemen of the press.

XHTMLchop Helps to Convert PSD files

PSD or a Photoshop document is the outcome of a project that you have worked upon in software called Photoshop. Over the past few years, the company that makes the software has continued to grow and they have come up with a new innovation or some feature every other year. Keeping pace with the changing software can be a little difficult for some people but the experts in the field know how valuable it is. It is the bread and butter of so many companies and people. The versatile tool has helped millions of people find jobs and today it is being used by engineers, architects and web designers from all across the globe. That is the beauty of the software; one tool and multiple uses. There are hardly any products that have proven to be revolutionary as this one. It changed the way people design posters or create art. It changed the fashion industry for the better with final touches and artificial digital make-up. Today, it is changing the way people use the web by helping artists come up with some ground breaking techniques and ideas for the web. However, creating a website is not that simple. Anything that needs to be viewed on the web requires some form of conversion and this is where companies like XHTMLchop come into the picture.

These are companies that have understood the versatility of Photoshop and have come up with some brilliant ways to help people convert PSD files into several other data and file formats so that they can be used across many industries. There are several popular file format conversions that are carried out by these companies through some complex manual coding. Some of the more popular formats into which people convert PSD files include HTML, XHTML, HTML5, Responsive, Email Template, Wordpress, Joomla, Drupal , Magento, Opencart and Oscommerce. It must be noted that PSD files can be exported into many other file formats itself at the time of saving. Bitmap is among the more popular formats but it has the problem of showing the background of the main image. The image will look bad on a website and it thus needs to be converted. The companies that deal in PSD file conversion also help to produce some beautiful Vector conversions.

These companies have to take several other precautions such as quality control and time management. When one of the teams of the firm is assigned an order, they need to complete the same in the said duration. If they fail to complete the same within the said time, the reputation of the firm goes down and this is why such a situation rarely happens. Other than managing the quality and the time constrain, these firms have to ensure that every XHTML or HTML file is converted in a way that it is compatible across several browsers.

Many organizations are into this business and you can make your pick by going through some of the XHTMLchop review. This gives you a better idea as to which company should you eventually opt for.