The case in question, which was separated from the “Operação Marquês,” involves former Portuguese Prime Minister José Sócrates and businessman Carlos Santos Silva. They were sent to trial in April 2021 by Judge Ivo Rosa for allegedly co-authoring three crimes each of money laundering and document forgery.
In March 2024, this decision was annulled by the Lisbon Court of Appeal, which ordered the Central Criminal Investigation Court (TCIC) to draft a new indictment. Judge Sofia Marinho Pires has replaced Ivo Rosa and is now handling the case.
In a recently obtained decision, Judge Sofia Marinho Pires cited the Code of Criminal Procedure, indicating that a new instruction hearing is necessary to decide whether the two defendants should be tried. This hearing is scheduled for June 3 at 9:30 AM at the TCIC in Lisbon.
The proceeding, intended for the presentation of arguments by the prosecution and defense, was set on May 13, one day after the case returned to the TCIC following the conclusion of all appeals to higher courts on April 29.
Judge Marinho Pires acknowledged the risk of the charges being time-barred due to the elapsed time since the alleged offenses, thus assigning an “urgent character” to the case proceedings.
Within this context, the judge requested the prosecution and defendants to express their views on the possible prescription of the three document forgery charges.
These charges, along with those of money laundering, were allegedly tied to a corruption crime related to supposed bribes to Sócrates by Santos Silva for insider information benefiting Grupo Lena, which had already expired by April 2021 in the previous indictment by Ivo Rosa.
This case is being tried separately from the main case, whose trial is set to begin on July 3 in Lisbon. In this main case, the former Prime Minister, in office from 2005 to 2011, stands accused of using his businessman friend as a front to hide bribes from third parties.
In the 2021 indictment, Judge Ivo Rosa had found no evidence of crimes under this perspective, with his decision not to send the defendants to trial later overturned by the Lisbon Court of Appeal.
José Sócrates and Carlos Santos Silva are facing 22 and 23 charges, respectively, including several corruption charges.
They both deny any wrongdoing in the cases.
