Manuel De Almeida / Lusa
The secretary claims that Sócrates paid her in cash through João Perna. Former Finance Minister Luís Campos e Cunha also claims that the former Prime Minister tried to convince him to appoint Armando Vara to CGD.
A former secretary of José Sócrates admitted, in the trial of the Operation Marquês case, that the former prime minister paid her for services provided with cash delivered by the driver, João Perna.
According to Maria João Santos, the informal provision of services took place in 2013, after the head of Government between 2005 and 2011 have returned from Paris (France) and asked the secretary, an employee of the Socialist Party (PS), to take unpaid leave.
“I never had a contract with José Sócrates. […] If I don’t have a contract, basically he is giving me help for the secretarial services I am providing”, stated the secretary, specifying that it was João Perna who was delivering the money.
Maria João Santos added that deliveries took place exclusively at your home, in Azeitãomunicipality of Setúbal, and not also, as telephone interceptions indicate, at the PS headquarters, in Largo do Rato, in Lisbon.
José Sócrates, 68 years old, is accused (accused after instruction) of 22 crimesincluding three for corruption, for allegedly receiving money to benefit the Lena group, the Espírito Santo Group (GES) and the Algarve resort of Vale do Lobo in different dossiers.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office considers that the amounts were received using front men and partially distributed in cash by people within the former prime minister’s sphere.
“Socrates insisted that Vara go to CGD”
One of José Sócrates’ finance ministers assured today, in court, that the former prime minister insisted “from the beginning” that Armando Vara be appointed to the administration of Caixa Geral de Depósitos (CGD).
“From the beginning, engineer José Sócrates urged me to dismiss the administration of Caixa Geral de Depósitos and nominated Armando Vara“, stated, in the trial of Operation Marquês, Luís Campos e Cunha, specifying that the intention would be for Carlos Santos Ferreira to be appointed president and Armando Vara vice-president.
The Minister of State and Finance between March and July 2005 stressed that this was not illegal, but maintained that there were “ethical considerations” to be taken into account and I didn’t want to “get ‘jobs for the boys’ [emprego para os amigos do partido]”.
In the indictment, the Public Prosecutor’s Office argues that José Sócrates and Armando Vara, who would eventually be appointed administrator of CGD at the end of 2005, were bribed a total of two million euros by two investors from the Algarve resort of Vale do Lobo to benefit the luxury development.
The imputation is based on the assumption that Armando Vara was appointed to the administration on the instructions of José Sócrates, an allegation that, in the September 4 session of the trial, the former prime minister countered was false.
Today, Luís Campos e Cunha highlighted that I didn’t have a good or bad opinion about Armando Vara, with José Sócrates even arranging a meeting between the two so that they could get to know each other.
When Carlos Santos Ferreira was appointed president of the public bank and Armando Vara administrator, the Finance Minister of the former socialist prime minister (2005-2011) was Fernando Teixeira dos Santos.
José Sócrates, Armando Vara and the two investors from Vale de Lobo are four of the 21 defendants of Operation Marquês and are mostly responsible for corruption and money laundering.
João Perna, 56 years old, is one of these defendants and is responsible for the crime of money laundering.
The trial began on July 3 at the Central Criminal Court of Lisbon and has sessions scheduled until at least December 18, 2025.
