Tiago Petinga / Lusa
Former Prime Minister José Sócrates
“When someone wants to prove that he is innocent, he wants to be judged. He does everything not to prove this innocence. He is really psychopath,” says Manuela Moura Guedes, claiming that José Sócrates tries to distract public opinion from what is essential.
This Tuesday was resumed the judgment of Operation Marquis, where the Public Prosecution Service (MP) confronted José Sócrates with ears in which he combined a dinner in 2014 at the home of former banker Ricardo Salgado.
In the telephone intersections dated April 2014 and reproduced on Tuesday at the Marquis Operation trial, the former Prime Minister (2005-2011) accepts, through his secretary, dinner at Ricardo Salgado’s house in Cascais, in a meeting for which the then executive president of Portugal Telecom (PT), Henrique Granadeiro. But even with the listening ,.
“I was invited to dinner, but dinner did not happen, and I am convinced that it did not happen precisely because Dr. Henrique Granadeiro did not appear,” reiterated José Sócrates, devaluing the fact that,, On the day after the scheduled date, he was heard to say that the meal at home of the President of Banco Espírito Santo (BES) had occurred.
This Wednesday, the Socrates was again caught in contradictions. After having guaranteed the opposite, After all, the former governor had the number of salty saved before the alleged dinner.
“If I had no remember. I remember receiving a call and I don’t even know who it was, ”said Socrates, after the expertise to his mobile phone show that the Number was already registered.
José Sócrates, 67, is pronounced (accused after instruction) of 22 crimes, including three of corruption, for allegedly received money to benefit in different dossiers the Lena Group, the Espírito Santo Group (GES) – Link to BES, to the shareholder of the PT – and the venture Valley of the Lobo, in the Algarve.
Ricardo Salgado, 81 years old and sick from Alzheimer’s, and Henrique Granadeiro, of the same age, are others of the 21 defendants in the process.
The 21 defendants-who respond globally for 117 economic and financial crimes- have generally denied the practice of any illicit.
“Psychopath. Dominated the media”
On the night of Tuesday, in an interview with, Manuela Moura Guedes called José Sócrates psychopath.
“When someone wants to prove that he is innocent, he wants to be judged. He does everything not to prove this innocence. It’s really psychopath. Makes a show, bears terribly in court. Try to distract public opinion from what is essential, ”he said.
Despite a career marked by investigations to the former governor, the journalist revealed that he always had a work very difficult by José Sócrates himself, who “Dominated practically the entire media”.
“I had to do the news under a complete secret,” he said, revealing that the day after the investigations leave, the Rest of the media did not replicate the news; And only your team had access to information.
“The media was not echoing such astonishing news, with evidence, with documents and recordings, in which the prime minister was said to be corrupt,” he lamented.
The journalist said that, at that time, the Supreme Court and the Public Prosecution Service were on the side of Socrates: “At the time, the Attorney General was Pinto Monteiro and did not let me put an attack on the rule of law. Not even the complaint followed … “They tried everything to wage everything that concerned the prime minister,” he said.
Manuela Moura Guedes confessed that her departure from journalism, thanks to these cases, left her with a hurt she can’t overcome. The journalist claims that the Spanish administration of TVI did not want the newspaper that coordinated to return because of the pressure exerted by José Sócrates.
