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José Sócrates - March deadline set for formal charges to be brought

socrates2Former Prime Minister, José Sócrates, will have to be charged before a deadline of March 17th next year, or the case will be have to be dropped.

Portugal's public prosecutor said the current 180 day extension to the deadline for the conclusion of Operation Marquês will have to be adhered to. Sócrates and 17 other suspects are caught up in a money-laundering, corruption and tax fraud investigation that has been going on for so long that many have forgotten what it was all about.

José Sócrates was held for 41 weeks in Évora prison after his November 2014 arrest. Released in September 2015 under certain court imposed conditions has enabled him to pursue a public and publishing career while waiting for formal charges to be brought.

The operation has 18 formal suspects including the former Socialist minister, Armando Vara and his daughter.

One of the main suspects is Carlos Santos Silva, the millionaire businessman and long-term friend of José Sócrates who is alleged to have channelled cash to Sócrates in Paris, cash that the prosectors have to prove was controlled by José Sócrates and came from a series of illgal payments received while he held public office. Carlos Santo Silva’s wife also is under investigation - Inês do Rosário.

Others defendents will include Joaquim Barroca, a director of the Lena group, Sócrates' former driver João Perna, Paulo Lalanda de Castro the former boss of Octapharma currently a prime suspect in the plasma supply corruption case. Also in the frame is the lawyer, Gonçalo Trindade Ferreira: Diogo Gaspar Ferreira and Rui Mão de Ferro, two well-known businessman and the Portuguese-Angolan banker and financier, Helder Bataglia.

Operation Marquês, especially as it involes a clutch of well-known names, is seen as an acid test of Portugal's ability to bring to book those who may have used the system for illegal self-enrichment.

Intricate, complex and reaching deep into the heart of Portugal's corrupted and corruptable elite, the investigation already has been extended as prosecutors successfully have asked for more time, beyond the initial year, to get a watertight case together.

Much is expected by the public of the state prosecutors and of the judicial system generally to ensure the 18 suspects are faced with tight, detailed and incontrovertible evidence and are given sentences that accurately reflect their crimes, should they be found guilty of course.     

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+3 #4 Margaridaana 2016-12-27 14:08
Quoting Chez:
"given sentences that accurately reflect their crimes, should they be found guilty of course". I won't be holding my breath!

The Portuguese equivalent of 'Teflon Tone'. Unfortunately, it is extremely doubtful that anyone will be able to make anything stick. Odious man.
+3 #3 Chez 2016-12-27 10:45
"given sentences that accurately reflect their crimes, should they be found guilty of course". I won't be holding my breath!
+5 #2 Mathew Harrison 2016-12-27 10:26
As so many expats pointed out at the time - where in Portugal would sufficient calibre investigators be found to examine Socrates finances? Any policeman getting a name for themselves for digging deep into crimes and criminals would soon realise it was 'grounds for dismissal'.

Also the layers of protection by the Portuguese elite are built into the law. The list of precautions is endless. First of all ... Honour is being challenged - attack one corrupt fraudster and you are attacking them all. Not good in a country as corrupt as Portugal as it is criminal Defamation if not provable to a bent Judges satisfaction.

Then there is No use of leaked off-shore accounts (as obtained illegally); no access to the on-shore or off-shore bank accounts of nearest and dearest (remember that the British Serious Fraud Office was involved over Freeport and it was Socrates Uncle in the frame) so as here - only intermediaries were investigated. Who, as with Passos Coelho's Tecnoforma investigation can wriggle out by saying it was 'poor accounting. Following prior warning - all written records now 'mysteriously destroyed'.

No recordings allowed at all - Freeports video recordings were destroyed. Even dashcam footage is illegal!

This is the UK's Independents take on Socrates and Freeport and a missing 4 million sterling back in 2009. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/portugal-pm-vows-to-defend-honour-over-mall-1517567.html
+4 #1 NOGIN THE NOG.. 2016-12-27 01:15
hmm.
quite simple really. If you appear to have paid taxes on X amount, and your savings and property add up to Y amount. Then surely the difference amounts to criminal activity
In the UK it is a Goverment tax called a POCA or proceeds of crime act, The problem is this act is not applied across the social classes in society..

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