The game continues as lawyers acting for former Prime Minister José Sócrates were this morning denied their copy of the evidence against him.
Claiming ‘technical difficulties,’ the Central Department of Investigation and Penal Action claimed that its workers were still scanning the documents and could not hand over the disc.
Portugal’s state prosecutor said that there is no further risk that José Sócrates could disturb the evidence gathering in Operation Marquês.
Starting today, José Sócrates can leave his home whenever he wants and travel freely within Portugal, but not overseas unless he is granted permission by Judge Carlos Alexandre.
José Sócrates’ lawyers at last can review the list of accusations levelled against their client as the game of legal cat and mouse ended after a three week battle to have the charges made available.
The former prime minister is central to Operation Marquês in which he soon will be formally accused of qualified tax fraud, money laundering and accepting bribes.
A book released today covering the events leading up to José Sócrates’ arrest in 2014 reveals that the former prime minister received large sums of cash several times a month and was continuously hitting his credit card limit when living a life of luxury in Paris.
Deliveries of money were made to Sócrates, arranged by his friend Carlos Santos Silva, three times a month on average to support his spending while studying.
Portugal’s former Head of State insists that José Sócrates should be released and an apology issued.
Mário Soares wrote today that "José Sócrates is still in prison after almost six months without being charged and tried" and "should be released as soon as possible and with due apologies."
Activities surrounding sales of the book purportedly written by José Sócrates ‘A Confiança no Mundo – a Tortura em Democracia’ is one of the arguments used by Lisbon judges to keep the former prime minister in jail.
The judgment of March 17th, pointed to the defendant’s communication skills and his ability to ‘handle the facts,’ giving as an example the self-promotion surrounding the launch of his book, giving it an apparent editorial success far above any result generated by any real interest in the book.
The Supreme Court of Justice this afternoon announced its rejection of the application by José Sócrates’ lawyers to have their client released.
The court disagreed with the habeas corpus pleas put forward by the lawyers João Araújo and Pedro Delille, so the former Prime Minister will remain in Evora jail until he formally is charged.
Former Prime Minister José Sócrates has managed to obtain a mortgage on his luxury apartment in Lisbon for a cool €250,000 in a deal dated January15th this year, long after his arrest in November 2014 and incarceration on suspicion of money laundering, tax evasion and corruption.
The mortgage was authorised by Caixa Geral de Depósitos despite Sócrates’ bank accounts having been frozen as part of the ongoing Operation Marquês.
