In the ninth session of the trial for Operation Marquês, the former Prime Minister continued discussing Vale do Lobo, the Algarve resort that benefited from a CGD loan deemed ruinous, linked to one of José Sócrates’s corruption charges.
He also spoke about Luís Campos e Cunha’s three-month stint at the Ministry of Finance.
Regarding Armando Vara, José Sócrates mentioned expressing reservations at the time about his appointment to the CGD administration, considering it “politically very disadvantageous for a government that is starting its functions.”
“The political right and their newspapers had an enormous prejudice against Armando Vara,” he added.
According to the Public Prosecutor’s accusation, José Sócrates and then CGD administrator Armando Vara were allegedly bribed with a total of two million euros by Vale do Lobo administrators Diogo Gaspar Ferreira and Rui Horta e Costa to benefit the project starting in 2006.
The Public Prosecutor believes Armando Vara was appointed to the public bank’s administration by José Sócrates’s recommendation in late 2005.
“The accusation points out that I appointed Vara with criminal intent thinking about Vale do Lobo. But the minutes where tasks were distributed are from August 4, 2005, and January 2006. This destroys the accusation entirely,” highlighted José Sócrates.
Concerning Luís Campos e Cunha, the former Prime Minister stressed it was not the former Finance Minister who resigned.
“I dismissed Campos e Cunha,” he stated. “I got tired of this gentleman’s lies. He was in the government for three months, and after three months, he was already engaged in the favorite activity of these people, which is to attack, denigrate, and vilify” the Socialist Party.
The accusation suggests Luís Campos e Cunha left the government due to pressures to change the Caixa Geral de Depósitos administration, but José Sócrates stated in court today that Campos e Cunha was dismissed following the approval of a law that withdrew benefits from those combining pensions with public administration roles.
“The Finance Minister had a pension from the Bank of Portugal. He was in that situation, thought he was entitled to everything and did not want to give up anything. He opposed the law,” explained José Sócrates, adding that Campos e Cunha was, to him, “a political mistake.”
The former Prime Minister, Armando Vara, Diogo Gaspar Ferreira, and Rui Horta e Costa are four of the 21 defendants in Operation Marquês, responding mostly to charges of corruption and money laundering.
The 21 defendants generally deny the 117 economic-financial crimes imputed to them overall.
The trial began on July 3 at the Central Criminal Court of Lisbon.
