Those working on Operation Marquis, the code name for the inquiry into the financial dealings of the former Prime Minister José Sócrates, have turned their attention to Vale do Lobo in the Algarve.
At a recent questioning in Lisbon, José Sócrates was asked to explain a decision by the Council of Ministers in 2007 which approved an altered land usage plan for the Algarve, and its possible connection with money transfers made in 2008 and 2009 to an account in Switzerland.
The changes to the land use plan, PROTAL, may have benefited the owners of Vale de Lobo which included the Luso-Angolan entrepreneur Helder Battaglia who also was the President of Espírito Santo company ESCOM.
Recent press reports highlight the name of Dutch millionaire Jeroen van Dooren who bought a plot of land at Vale de Lobo in 2007, paying €4.3 million.
Van Dooren says he then was asked by Vale de Lobo’s boss Gaspar Ferreira to stump up another €2 million which was paid into Ferreira’s bank account.
The additional money allegedly was to ensure the Dutchman 'could appoint his own architect and builder for the property project.'
The €2 million next appeared in the bank account of Joaquim Barroca, the Lena Group director already a formal suspect in Operation Marquis, and from there to long-term friend of Sócrates, Carlos Silva who has been ‘lending’ his chum money ever since.
