According to a source for the defence, three other former public officials were also charged: the former president of the state Institute of Records and Notaries (IRN), António Figueiredo, the former director of the Immigration and Borders Service, Manuel Palos, and the former secretary-general of the Ministry of Justice, Maria Antónia Anes.
Operation Labyrinth, as the investigation is known, began in November last year with various searches and 11 detentions, on suspicion of bribery and other serious crimes in the administration of the golden visa programme.
Macedo resigned from his post on 16 November, months before he was named as a person of interest in the investigation, in September. Parliament had voted to lift his immunity from prosecution in July.
Portugal’s golden visa scheme is seen as one of the most successful of its kind in the European Union, bringing in almost €1.59 billion in its three years of operation to end-October in return for issuing 2,621 residence permits, of which 2,087 went to citizens of China.
The launch of an investigation of possible criminal activity in its administration prompted the government earlier this year to tighten the rules and procedures, with the result that the processing of applications slowed sharply, and was even suspended for several weeks.