Portuguese Scandals

Casa Pia child sex abuse: 1970-2010. Paedophile rings operating within the Casa Pia state-run educational institution for children. Protracted legal proceedings started around 2000 and ended with convictions in 2010. Full article on Wikipedia. Portugal is an 80% Catholic country. Paedophile abuse in religious orphanages and schools going back decades is more than likely. All of which slowly fading from scrutiny and redress as the victims pass away.

Tancos Arms Theft: 2017 onwards. Theft of military equipment by state enforcement agencies. Basically, some PT security/policing/military agencies stealing arms from other agencies. Full article on Wikipedia. This is symptomatic of deep-rooted issues within Portuguese law enforcement.

Colonial Legacy and Corruption: Ongoing. Portugal had 3 major colonies in colonial times - Brazil, Angola and Mozambique. Corrupt money from those countries looking for a safe haven finds Portugal attractive for historical, language and safety (EU status) reasons. Likely that this involves decisions at the highest level of the Portuguese state given the large sums involved (for a small country like PT) and the extremely complex nature of the transactions necessary to provide deniability. Even a small percentage of the Brazilian operation car wash scandal (2008 onwards) money is a large amount. As is the money originating from Angola's former authoritarian ruler via his daughter Isabel Dos Santos.

Bank failures: 2007 onwards. The financial crash caused havoc in the Portuguese banking sector and exposed deep structural and regulatory problems not least in the central bank (Banco de Portugal). It is only the strict bailout conditions demanded by the troika that have forced Portugal to deal with these problems. The real victims of these bank failures are the 'small' people of Portugal, not the big players. Typical profile: The citizen who borrowed €500,000 to buy apartments against security of a home at best worth €200,000. Then got totally wiped out in the crash - including having their home repossessed. And the bank involved got bailed out for any shortfall. No justice there !