During the afternoon, the former prime minister concluded the chapter concerning Vale do Lobo, the Algarve resort that benefited from a loan from Caixa Geral de Depósitos (CGD) deemed disastrous, and the administration of CGD, beginning his explanation of the accusation in which the Public Prosecutor believes he received two million euros from José Paulo Pinto de Sousa, his cousin.
“Never did my cousin José Paulo give me any money while I was in Government,” the former socialist prime minister began by saying, adding that they did not have regular contact at the time. “I have a fraternal relationship with my cousin José Paulo, but he had a completely independent life. He lived in Angola, I lived here.”
According to the Public Prosecutor, José Paulo Pinto de Sousa acted as the first front man for José Sócrates, but the former prime minister repeatedly denied this accusation, stating that his cousin went to Switzerland twice to withdraw money “to pay a sum he owed to an Angolan individual.”
Once again, José Sócrates criticized the Public Prosecutor’s stance, this time stating that this is an “unbelievable technique: there’s money, there’s crime.” “What is being demanded of me here is what is being demanded of others: prove your innocence. Now they demand that I prove: ‘prove that you did not receive money from José Paulo,'” he added.
José Paulo Pinto de Sousa is accused of two counts of money laundering in co-authorship with José Sócrates, Ricardo Salgado, Hélder Bataglia, and Carlos Santos Silva – one for the movement of accounts in Switzerland and another for the financial movements of Espírito Santo Entreprise (ESE).
The former prime minister and José Paulo Pinto de Sousa are two of the 21 defendants of Operation Marquês, who mostly respond to charges of corruption and money laundering.
The 21 defendants generally deny the commission of the 117 economic-financial crimes they are collectively charged with.
The trial began on July 3 at the Central Criminal Court of Lisbon and is scheduled to continue on September 9, with the continuation of the interrogation of José Sócrates.
