Rodrigo Antunes / Lusa
Businessman Carlos Santos Silva, friend of José Sócrates
An investigation by Nascer do Sol discovered a new real estate deal between Carlos Santos Silva and a family member of José Sócrates with similar contours to those mentioned in the Operation Marquês indictment.
Businessman Carlos Santos Silva, defendant in Operation Marquês and appointed by the Public Ministry (MP) as José Sócrates’ front man, purchased in February 2023 a villa in Malveira to Pedro Pinto de Sousa, cousin of the former prime minister.
According to the investigation, the deal has similarities with other schemes described in the Operation Marquês complaint, in which Santos Silva is accused of simulate business with Socrates’ family members to send money of illicit origin to the former prime minister.
The businessman paid 775 thousand euros for the house located in Vale das Andorinhas, in Malveira, with payment starting months after signing the deed. The former owner of the house, Pedro Pinto de Sousa, is the brother of José Paulo Pinto de Sousa, also a defendant in the Marquês case and accused of to have been Socrates’ first figurehead.
The acquisition of the villa in Malveira is also linked to a set of operations around the Tchiome Salinas, in Angola, a deal that the MP associates with alleged payments from the Espírito Santo Group (GES). According to the indictment, approximately 6.5 million euros transferred to an account in Switzerland would have been a counterpart for political decisions favorable to the universe of Espírito Santo, particularly in the context of a takeover bid for Portugal Telecom (PT).
The case also involves the delivery of apartments in Ericeira and Porto as alleged compensation for debts related to the exploitation of salt mines. The newspaper states that the apartment in Ericeira, where Sócrates has lived for seven years, “was used as an alleged payment of the Angolan businessman’s debt to his cousin”. However, this debt “re-emerged in 2022to justify the sale of a three-story house in Malveira”.
Not total, close to 34 million euros would have been hidden in accounts in Switzerland managed by Santos Silva. Much of this money was frozen following the Operation Marquis accusation, but part of the fortune became available again in 2021, when judge Ivo Rosa dropped a large part of the accusation. Shortly after this thaw, Santos Silva bought the house.
Speaking to , the research author states that “we are facing a replica of Operation Marquis“.“It was with schemes like this that Operation Marquis began. Carlos Santos Silva, in order to bring the money he had saved in offshore companies to Socrates’ sphere, arranged a series of schemes to buy several properties”, says journalist Felícia Cabrita.
Santos Silva stated, through his lawyer, that the purchase was a “a good deal” real estate, ensuring that the purchase was motivated solely by investment reasons.
José Sócrates declared that he was “absolutely unaware of any business between third parties regarding house purchases and other transactions”. “None of this concerns me. Since we were arrested in 2014, engineer Santos Silva Don’t even buy me a cup of coffee”, guarantor to .
