André Kosters / Lusa
Former Prime Minister, José Sócrates
The businesses were opened in cities near the border with Panama that are part of one of the main cocaine trafficking corridors in South America.
A new investigation raises new questions about the business of José Paulo Pinto de Souzacousin of José Sócrates who is appointed by the Public Ministry as his supposed front man in several businesses under investigation.
Between 2006 and 2019, José Paulo built a discreet business presence in Mato Grosso do Sul, with a special focus on Dourados and Amanbai. In 2008, with no previous experience in the sector, founded the construction company Metrusdedicated to the construction of two residential condominiums.
The company included Portuguese partners and a local partner, Vilson Antunes, who worked on the ground and had broad representation powers. Apartment buyers report that Antunes presented himself as the person truly responsible for the company, while the others partners remained absent.
Documents collected from Brazilian notary offices indicate that Metrus was not created with a traditional business logic. Profit margins have been reduced and, in some cases, properties have been sold below market value. For investigators and experts in financial crime in Brazil, this pattern is typical of operations aimed at “cleaning” money of criminal origin. The closure of the company, in 2025, without clear distribution of results among all partners, aggravated suspicions.
Parallel to his real estate activity, José Paulo joined the opening of a betting house in Amanbai. These houses, in addition to selling games, function as payment and cash withdrawal points, handling large volumes of cash. These movements, according to the Brazilian Federal Police, make the betting house vulnerable to use by money laundering networks. Financial fraud experts describe recurring schemes in the border region, where money can circulate without formally transiting between countries, through informal exchange clearing mechanisms.
The choice of cities such as Amanbai and Ponta Porã may also not be seen as innocent, given that they are part of one of the main cocaine trafficking corridors in South America. “Choosing a city right next to the border does not seem to be by chance. The issue of the lottery, this is very clear to me, is to obtain money in cash”, argues money laundering specialist Bernardo Mota.
The web of relationships extends to José Paulo’s family members. Her older brother’s widow contests the alleged bankruptcy of joint companies and claims never having received his share business in Angola, including revenue from salt mines that continue to operate. The Public Ministry considers that some of these business structures served to simulate investments, justify transfers of large sums and hide the origin of funds that passed between Portugal, Switzerland, Angola and Brazil.
Before all these deals, José Paulo’s fortune stored in an offshore company in Switzerland was transferred to Carlos Santos Silva, businessman and friend of Sócrates who is accused by the Public Ministry of simulate business with Socrates’ family members to send money of illicit origin to the former prime minister.
