José Coelho / Lusa
Eleven years after the detention of José Sócrates at Lisbon airport, today the trial of Operation Marquis, which brings to court the former prime minister and 20 more defendants and has more than 650 witnesses.
117 crimes are at stake, including corruption, laundering of capital and tax fraud, for which the 21 defendants will be tried in this process. For now, they are 53 sessions marked Which extend until the end of this year, and in the future should be marked in the following and, during this trial will be heard 225 witnesses called by the Public Prosecution Service and about 20 calls by the defense of each of the 21 defendants.
It also tells that Socrates has already presented more than 100 resources or complaints since the beginning of the inquiry. The newspaper itself failed to determine the exact number, but admits that it can reach 150.
The sessions will take place on the sixth floor of the Central Criminal Court of Lisbon, on the court campus, in a room that will have reserved 32 places For the defense of the defendants – 18 singular and 3 companies. There are still eight assistants in this process.
The case originated on an accusation of the prosecutor that counts over 4,000 pages and which was deducted in 2017. At the time, the prosecutor revealed that more than 200 witnesses were inquired and bank data collected from about 500 accounts.
The main defendant of this process is José Socrateswhich goes to trial for 22 crimes – three passive corruption of political office holder, 13 of capital bleaching and six of qualified tax fraud. Carlos Santos Silva follows, who according to the prosecutor was appointed by José Sócrates to move the money for the accounts of former prime minister, accused of 23 crimes.
Among the defendants of this process is also the former president of BES Ricardo Salgadowhich is accused of 11 active corruption and laundering crimes of capital.
As in the judgment of the BES process, in which the main defendant is Ricardo Salgado, this judgment will have a sound system, viewing documents and Transmission to the two press rooms located in the A and B buildings of the Justice Campus and which have a capacity of 32 journalists.
This process comes to trial more than a decade after it is known and is the first time a former prime minister is tried. The start date was only set in March this year, after the decision of the Lisbon Court of Appeal, known in January last year, had returned most of the crimes they had fallen in the instructional phase.
Socrates speaks of “stratagema”
Former prime minister José Sócrates returned to criticize the “lapse of writing” In the case, which he considered to be a “stratagem”, which forces him to return to court “four years later to answer the same questions.”
“What they did was a stratagem, a manigence to force me to come to court again,” said José Sócrates.
“Four years later they force me to come answer the same questions Four years ago, ”he said in statements to journalists before entering the Central Criminal Court of Lisbon where the trial begins, 11 years after being detained at Lisbon airport.
José Sócrats returned to underline the question of the “lapse of writing” that in his opinion underlies “all deceived all”.
“This writing period It was not discovered by anyone for four years. During these four years [de instrução]the prosecutor has never noticed that there was a lapse of writing, ”said the former prime minister, considering that” it was a stratagem. “
“The judicial system does not want me to use [do lapso de escrita]. The lapse of writing is that it allowed to transform corruption into a lawful act into corruption into an unlawful act, ”he said.
The prosecutor “manipulated the deadline. The judge considered that all accusations were not indicted and considered them prescribed,” he added.
The Attorney General of the Republic “has no right to transform the presumption of innocence into presumption of guilt”Said the main defendant, accused of 22 crimes, including three passive corruption of political office holder, 13 of capital bleaching and six of qualified tax fraud.
José Sócrates also criticized Amadeu Guerra’s recent statements to the Observer when he said that he should “give Socrates the opportunity to prove his innocence.” For the defendant, that statement “is Community directives violating”.
“This process had the Objective to get away from public life”, Said the former prime minister, who was at the head of the country’s destinations between 2005 and 2011.
Already about the excessive expenses described in the process, said only: “Who spent 12 thousand euros on clothes should have a lot of money. But I never spent 12 thousand euros on clothes.”
At the entrance of the court, the friend of former prime minister and businessman Carlos Santos Silva did not make statements to journalists, as well as defendant Henrique Granadeiro.
Also present this morning at the Justice Campus, Rui Patrício, lawyer of Luso-Angolan businessman Helder Bataglia, revealed that his client will not be present in court.
At the entrance of the court, Ricardo Salgado’s lawyer, Francisco Proença de Carvalho, said that Your client “is getting worse”referring to Alzeihmer’s disease.
Ricardo Salgado has already responded in court in a lawsuit extracted from Operation Marquis, having been condemned for abuse of trust In eight years in effective arrest, a penalty whose compliance was conditional on the evaluation of the health condition of the former banker, diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.
Another of the defendants already convicted of proceedings extracted from the main proceedings is Armando Varaformer minister of António Guterres and former administrator of Caixa Geral de Depósitos, who in the main proceedings will be responsible for a crime of passive corruption of political office holder and a crime of laundering capital.
Will also respond to the collective led by Susana Seca two former administrators of the extinct Portugal Telecom, Zeinal Bava and Henrique Granadeiro, Rui Horta and Costa, former administrator of the luxury venture in the Algarve Vale de Lobo, Luso-Angolan businessman Helder Bataglia, Socrates’ cousin José Pinto de Sousa, former Prime Minister’s ex-wife, Sofia Fava, as well as former ruler of the former ruler, João Pen.
