PORTUGAL Trends and Developments Contributed by: Bárbara Marinho e Pinto, Rogério Alves & Associados
Enforcement Trends and RASI Data According to the Annual Internal Security Report ( Relatório Anual de Segurança Interna – RASI), money laundering offences have a significant footprint in Por - tugal. In 2024, money laundering was already identi - fied as the offence with the most pronounced increase (by 44%), decisively contributing to the rise in “other economic and financial crime” (by 34.78%), despite a reduction in corruption and related criminality. In 2025, this trend of a “marked increase” (by 42%) continued, with money laundering becoming the cat - egory with the largest share of economic and finan - cial offences, associated with the use of electronic platforms and the integration of illicit proceeds into international financial circuits. As regards the various forms of corruption, 2024 saw a decrease, a trend that was partially reversed in 2025, when active corruption is reported to have grown by 17%, along with several modalities of this offence that had remained stagnant in 2024 (prevarication by politi - cal office holders, corruption of political office hold - ers, active corruption in the private sector, active cor - ruption in sport, corruption in international business transactions). Conversely, offences such as embez - zlement, unlawful receipt of an advantage, misuse of public assets, economic participation in business and trading in influence continue to decline. In 2024 only one preventive inquiry ( averiguação pre- ventiva ) was opened (with six cases closed and six concluded), whereas in 2025 the number rises to nine preventive inquiries (with four cases closed and four concluded). A preventive inquiry is intended to assess whether there are grounds to initiate a formal criminal investi - gation ( inquérito ), operating in a context where there is no suspicion of a specific crime. This mechanism is provided for in Law No 36/94 of 29 September as a preventive measure in relation to certain economic and financial crimes. It does not constitute a criminal investigation, but rather an action aimed at gathering information where there are suspicions of a risk of criminal conduct, and at formulating possible propos - als for measures capable of reducing corruption and economic and financial crime.
The preventive inquiry must be concluded as soon as its purpose has been achieved, with a decision to close the case and/or to open an investigation. An investigation is opened if elements arise that indicate the commission of a crime. One of the preventive inquiries recently carried out focused on a company owned by the Prime Minister, which generated significant media interest and fuelled debate around the interpretation of this mechanism, including accusations that it was being used to con - duct forms of criminal investigation without the neces - sary formalities and, in particular, without guarantees in terms of the defendant’s procedural rights. It was considered that this type of covert criminal procedure infringed citizens’ rights, freedoms and guarantees. It is particularly worth noting that a person subject to a preventive inquiry ends up bearing a negative public image that is difficult, if not impossible, to dispel whilst the inquiry is ongoing. In other words, for as long as the preventive inquiry remains in force, the person concerned remains shrouded in a cloud of public suspicion, which, in certain cases, may even make it untenable for them to continue in particular public offices. This has led many to fear that this mecha - nism – which can be triggered by a simple anonymous complaint – could be used as a tool for partisan politi - cal warfare, with clear consequences for the erosion of democratic institutions. Legislative Reform Outlook for 2026 Due to the impact on public opinion of high-profile cases that receive extensive media coverage, there is an increasingly widespread tendency to understand the effectiveness of criminal enforcement not as the result of a fair balance between the defence rights of a citizen suspected of a criminal offence and the exercise of the ius puniendi, but as an objective to be achieved through the erosion of those rights. The year 2025 was marked by the start of the trial of former Portuguese prime minister José Sócrates. The proceedings have been characterised by a high level of acrimony between the presiding judge and the defence, leading the initial defence lawyer to withdraw from the case. Several other lawyers subsequently assumed the defence, but each in turn resigned, con -
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