Portugal to change law under which Roman
Abramovich gained citizenship
Government says it will modify legislation giving
nationality to descendants of expelled Jews to prevent it being ‘manipulated’
Sam Jones in
Madrid and Beatriz Ramalho da Silva in Lisbon
Wed 16 Mar
2022 18.45 GMT
The
Portuguese government is to tighten the law granting nationality to the
descendants of Jews who were expelled from the Iberian peninsula 500 years ago,
as concerns grow over the controversial decision to award Roman Abramovich
citizenship because of his apparent Sephardic Jewish heritage.
The Russian
oligarch and Chelsea FC owner, who is now subject to UK and EU sanctions
because of his ties to Vladimir Putin, was granted Portuguese citizenship last
year under a 2015 law designed to make amends for the mass banishments at the
end of the 15th century.
On
Wednesday, however, the Portuguese government said it had decided to modify the
nationality-by-descent law to prevent the legislation being “manipulated”.
The move
comes as the Portuguese prosecutor’s office investigates how Abramovich was
awarded his citizenship, and days after the rabbi who certified the oligarch’s
Sephardic descent was arrested in the city of Oporto.
The foreign
minister, Augusto Santos Silva, said a new decree would introduce “a
requirement for [applicants to demonstrate an] effective connection with
Portugal”.
According
to Portugal’s Público newspaper, the proposed changes to the law could require
applicants to provide proof of a material connection to the country, such as
evidence of visits or inherited property there.
Last
December, the Russian opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, hit out at Portugal’s
decision to grant citizenship to Abramovich, describing him as “the closest
oligarch to Putin and one of his wallets”. “He finally managed to find a
country where you can give some bribes and make some semi-official and official
payments to end up in the EU and Nato – on the other side of Putin’s frontline,
so to speak.”
Santos
Silva described Navalny’s criticism as “profoundly unfair” and said “the idea
that Portuguese civil servants carry suitcases of money is insulting”.
Daniel
Litvak, the chief rabbi of the Jewish Community of Oporto, was arrested last
week and is understood to be under investigation for the alleged offences of
“influence peddling, active corruption, document forgery, money laundering,
qualified tax fraud and criminal association”.
Meanwhile,
a separate inquiry into the use of the citizenship law has already led to the
start of disciplinary proceedings against employees at Portugal’s Institute of
Registries and Notary, which provides nationality and passport services.
In a
statement, the Jewish community of Oporto said: “As soon as Jewish communities
start making their mark in European territory, the influential antisemites in
society will attempt to destroy Jewish life bit by bit, synagogue by synagogue,
organisation by organisation, using the same methods once employed in the
Soviet Union.”
It
described the allegations against Litvak as “unbelievable anonymous
denunciations” and said that while it had received the sum of €250 from
Abramovich, it had “worked in full transparency and maintained rigorous and
honest standards” while evaluating Sephardic ancestries.
The
community also said it was no longer interested in collaborating with the
Portuguese state in certifying people as Sephardic Jews. It declined to comment
on whether the oligarch was a direct or indirect benefactor of the community,
whether it remained confident about Abramovich’s certification, or whether it
was reviewing the decision.
According
to a document on its website, “certificates may be annulled if it comes to the
committee’s notice that false documents were used in the certification
process”.
The
community’s website says the “overwhelming majority” of the certificates issued
have been granted to descendants from traditional Sephardic families who have
lived for centuries in the Balkans, the Middle East and north Africa. To date,
almost 57,000 people have been granted Portuguese nationality under the 2015
law.
A similar
but more stringent Spanish law, which was introduced a year earlier, requires
proof of ties to Spain as well as taking a language and culture test. It
attracted more than 132,000 applications before the deadline of 1 October 2019.
Spain’s
Federation of Jewish Communities, which certifies applications, said it had
received petitions from Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela, Argentina, the US, Israel,
Panama, Ecuador, Brazil, Turkey, France, the UK, Serbia and Montenegro, Peru,
Chile, Morocco and Afghanistan.
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