Press review: Pending asylum applications and 2,000 witnesses in fraud case

Pending asylum applications have doubled to nearly 8,800, according to Público this Saturday, March 28. The newspaper reports that delays in the transition from SEF to AIMA explain the backlog over the last two years, with Portugal refusing over a thousand asylum requests last year. Jornal de Notícias reports that the courts have summoned 2,000 witnesses in a fraud case involving medical certificates. Eighteen defendants, including driving schools, mediators, and doctors, are facing trial for revalidating driving licences with certificates issued without the doctors ever seeing the applicants. Correio da Manhã highlights that Swiss authorities suspect former banker Ricardo Salgado created a Ponzi-style scheme to finance GES, allegedly causing creditors losses of several billion euros.