Former 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.
