In the indictment of the Operation Marquis case, the Public Prosecutor’s Office notes the existence of these transactions to argue that the money from businessman Carlos Santos Silva actually belonged to José Sócrates, with the latter distributing funds to close associates and other personal expenses.
Questioned today during the trial about whether she ever received money from the former government official to deliver to his mother or brother, Maria Rita Gomes, who worked for Maria Adelaide Monteiro from 1998 until the end of 2014, replied that she did not remember such an event occurring.
Her response remained unchanged even after being confronted with phone intercepts from August 2014, in which José Sócrates and his mother discuss “papers,” allegedly a code, according to the accusation, for the delivery of four thousand euros to the elderly woman through the housemaid.
The worker, who testified as a witness, recounted, on the contrary, that Maria Adelaide Monteiro sometimes asked her to deposit money into a bank account of José Sócrates’ brother, who passed away in 2011.
During her testimony, Maria Rita Gomes, who also cleaned the homes of José Sócrates and that brother, assured that she never saw envelopes with money in the former prime minister’s apartment.
José Sócrates, 68, is charged (indicted after investigation) with 22 crimes, including three of corruption, for allegedly receiving money to benefit the Lena Group, the Espírito Santo Group (GES), and the Vale do Lobo resort in separate cases.
In total, the case involves 21 defendants, who generally deny the commission of the 117 economic and financial crimes attributed to them.
The trial has been ongoing since July 3 at the Lisbon Central Criminal Court and has sessions scheduled at least until December 18, 2025.
