The prosecutor and the judge Carlos Alexandre believe that José Sócrates and his chum Carlos Santos Silva set up "schemes" to accumulate a fortune abroad.
One deal was for a loan of €120,000 that Sócrates obtained from Caixa Geral de Depósitos when he decided to leave for France to study philosophy, having lost the election to Passos Coelho.
Portugal’s former prime minister José Sócrates was taken by convoy to Lisbon yesterday to answer questions about the ‘violation of secrecy’ surrounding his case, questions previously that he said he was happy to answer.
At the same time his three month review was taking place in front of Judge Carlos Alexandre and, as there was no new or material evidence relating to the case against him, Sócrates was remanded in continuing custody at Evora jail, alongside his generous friend Carlos Santos Silva.
Former Prime Minister José Sócrates is to be taken to Lisbon to be questioned about the violation of judicial secrecy following his arrest and already has expressed his desire to cooperate.
Sócrates will be heard next Monday by a magistrate from the Department of Investigation and Prosecution in Lisbon which is investigating possible violations of the ‘secrecy of justice’ in the Operation Marquês case that largely has been played out in the country’s media.
Former prime minister José Sócrates said in an interview with SIC last night that all this discussion about his high levels of spending and the money sent to him by his chum Carlos Santos Silva is just "gossip."
José Sócrates has not been too keen on explaining why he had been receiving money from his close friend who is in the same jail pending charges, but has said that the cash was in the form of loans made to him when he was having a few cash flow problems.
Mário Soares has challenged Portugal’s president over the arrest and continued detention of former prime minister José Sócrates.
The former socialist Prime Minister and then President, Mário Soares has criticised the silence of the current President Cavaco Silva and challenges him to intervene "in the name of the Portuguese," forgetting perhaps that many Portuguese are delighted that Sócrates is in prison.
The Socialist leader, António Costa visited José Sócrates in Evora prison today and reported that the former prime minister was maintaining his "fighting spirit."
Another high profile visitor dropping in to wish Sócrates a happy new year was former President of the Republic, Mário Soares.
José Sócrates’ driver never went to Paris at the behest of his master and therefore never took any cash in bags to top up the former PM’s cash pile.
Sócrates’ increasingly talkative lawyer, João Araújo, said today in Évora that the former prime minister’s driver, João Perna, "never went to Paris” nor did he “take bags of money” to the French capital.
José Sócrates’s lawyer has postponed an appeal to have his client released from Évora prison, scheduled for today, claiming that he first needs to consult his client on ‘some issues.’
Lawyer João Araújo said that he soon will be in a position to move forward and deliver the appeal to the Central Court of Criminal Investigation.
