Sérgio Monteiro, former secretary of state for transport, is set to be called to the stand as a witness next week as part of the judicial review of Operation Marquês, a case in which former prime-minister, José Sócrates, is among the officials accused.
Mr. Monteiro, who worked under the Social Democrat-led coalition government that came to power in 2011, will be questioned on the 4th December. The court’s line of questioning will be focused on his earlier involvement in the public money concession relating to a planned high-speed rail line.
In the Operation Marquês case files it is revealed that the former transport minister was involved in issuing the bank guarantee provided by Caixa BI, a sub-unit of the Caixa Geral de Depósitos state bank where he just so happened to work before working in Sócrates’ government. The grant was issued under a programme relating to the concession of the Poceirão-Caia section of the planned high-speed rail link between Lisbon and Madrid, which never ended up being built.
While working at Caixa BI, Mr. Monteiro was involved in overseeing the financial instruments on the consortium’s side for the construction of the first planned section of the rail line.
The former official’s name was also mentioned by witnesses Paulo Campos - who served as secretary of state for transport in the previous Socialist government led by Sócrates - Carlos Alberto Fernandes, and Pedro Manuel Nascimento. The three individuals linked him to the financing of a consortium among whose shareholders were Portuguese construction companies, notably the Lena group, which is also being investigated as part of the Operation Marquês case.
Ivo Rosa, the judge who is carrying out the review of the case, has taken the view that it is critical at this stage of the process to question Monteiro, as he had direct profesional knowledge of the facts surrounding the railway concession.
Sócrates, when interrogated during the previous investigation of his corruption case denied having been involved or having received money for awarding the concession to build the first section of the high-speed network.
However, public prosecutors allege that the then prime minister intervened in favour of his own business partners and associates.
On Wednesday Carlos Santos Silva, a businessman and close friend of Sócrates who is also among the accused, to be interviewed by the judge and prosecutors.
The Operation Marquês case began more than five years ago. In all, 28 people have been charged on a total of 188 counts of various economic and financial crimes.
