Antônio Cotrim / Lusa
The Attorney General of the Republic, Amadeu Guerra, was director of DCIAP between 2013 and 2019
The lack of human resources and long delays in tasks such as opening emails or translating are leading to thousands of money laundering reports being filed without being truly analyzed.
The number of communications suspected money laundering analyzed by the Public Ministry has registered exponential growth in the last decade, which is putting the judicial system under severe pressure.
Data from the Operational Investigation and Prevention Unit of the Central Department of Investigation and Criminal Action (DCIAP) indicate that preventive investigation processes (PAP) increased from 2270 in 2012 to around 19 thousand in 2024. This corresponds to a eight-fold jump in just 12 years.
Much of these communications originate from banks, but also involve entities such as law firms, real estate agents and casinos, which are required by law to report suspicious transactions. However, according to an inspection report carried out at the end of 2024, the team responsible for combating money laundering is unable to meet the volume of information received, having only six prosecutors.
The lack of resources means that most communications end up being automatically archived without in-depth analysis, raising the risk that thousands of potential crimes go unpunished. In 2024, only a fraction of cases were actually examined. According to data from the Attorney General’s Office’s computer system, only 1.6% of simple communications were dispatched by magistrates, according to .
The report points out structural problems in the internal organization, such as the concentration of processes in the coordinator himself, which holds around 42% of pending inquiriescontributing to systematic delays.
Another problem identified is related to the lack of clear criteria to select which PAPs should be investigated. In practice, only cases that match data already existing in the DCIAP system are analyzed, while many others are automatically archived after six months.
The report also highlights inconsistencies in statistical datawith significant divergences between different internal sources, without clear explanation. This lack of reliability worsens diagnostic and planning difficulties.
Collaboration in international investigations also has several problems. According to , there is orders forgotten for more than a year or closed by foreign authorities due to lack of Portuguese response. In one example cited, the bailiff needed 107 days to open three emails.
Delays in digitizing documents that last years, difficulties in sharing information between processes and excessive time for basic taskssuch as translations or merging documents, are other problems highlighted. In extreme situations, there have even been investigations closed due to lack of response or essential measures that were delayed to the point of allowing crimes to be prescribed.
