While Government officials initially denied these reports, threatening to sue over the allegations, the Finance Ministry has now announced it has ordered an independent inquiry to verify the claims.
The Attorney-General’s Office has also ordered prosecutors to investigate the existence of a list of so-called untouchable taxpayers.
President Cavaco Silva, Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho, Deputy Prime Minister Paulo Portas, and other prominent figures in the banking sector are reportedly some of the names that when investigated by tax inspectors, result in them being summoned with immediate effect to explain their actions to their superiors.
The controversial recording of the tax chief was taken on 20 January, when news first emerged of the prime minister’s long-standing debts to the state. In it, Vítor Lourenço reportedly explains who prospective inspectors should not audit.
“These are prominent people who occupy political offices. We cannot reveal who is on the list, to which we refer in inverted commas as the ‘VIP Package’”, he further warns: “We can immediately see who is unduly trying to access these details.”
He justifies the move by saying there is a need to stop “the possibility or ease with which a taxpayer’s privacy can be invaded, not just that of the so-called VIPs.”
Vítor Lourenço further admitted that on one occasion, the use of a single password allowed seven different inspectors to delve into the tax history of prominent figures, making it impossible to establish who perpetrated these actions.
After denials at the highest level, including a statement to Parliament by the Prime Minister that he believed there was “no such thing as a VIP list”, the coalition has now agreed to summon State Secretary of Fiscal Affairs Paulo Núncio to a commission of inquiry, which was initiated on Thursday evening.
Paulo Núncio has also denied the existence of such a list, despite reports by Portuguese weekly magazine Visão that the order to compile a VIP list came from his office. Núncio, who has since said he is at Parliament’s full disposal to answer any questions on the matter, will be joined by António Brigas Afonso, who resigned his post as Treasury and Customs chief on Wednesday, which was immediately accepted by Finance Minister Maria Luís Albuquerque, in the wake of the VIP scandal.
In a statement sent to newsdesks, Brigas Afonso did not reveal the reasons for quitting the position he assumed last July, but in a goodbye note sent to colleagues he denies its existence.
Earlier, the Attorney-General’s Office issued a statement revealing: “We are collating information on this matter with a view to evaluating the need to initiate proceedings which are deemed pertinent.”
The leader of the Union for Tax Inspectors has since also told the media that more than 140 of his associates have been subjected to disciplinary hearings after looking up protected taxpayers.
Paulo Ralha adds that the first hearing was called last December when inspectors consulted fiscal data of Pedro Passos Coelho.
The union chief also stressed that Brigas Afonso has fallen on his own sword despite it being the belief that he had little involvement in the compilation of the list and his resignation is the result of him having been deceived.
Paulo Ralha has also since insisted in a series of live television interviews that it was the State Secretary of Fiscal Affairs who handed the list over to tax department chiefs.
The union on Thursday further welcomed the resignation of the Judicial Tax Deputy Director General, José Maria Pires, saying “it makes perfect sense”, adding that Paulo Núncio should follow suit.