Sócrates calls new money-laundering trial in Lisbon "absurd"
The former Prime Minister José Sócrates has criticised the start of a money-laundering trial that began on Monday in Lisbon, calling it "grotesque".
Former Prime Minister criticises duplication of judicial proceedings in Lisbon
The former Prime Minister José Sócrates, aged 69, described as "absurd" and "grotesque" the new money-laundering trial that began on Monday at the Central Criminal Court in Lisbon. CNN Portugal reports that the case stems from the investigation order of Operation Marquês, dated 2021.
At issue is the alleged use, between 2011 and 2014, of bank accounts belonging to a company controlled by businessman Carlos Santos Silva, his wife and Sócrates's driver to introduce funds of illicit origin into the sphere of the former government official.
According to the prosecution's indictment by the Public Prosecutor's Office (MP), formulated in 2017, Carlos Santos Silva is said to have been one of the front men to whom the then head of Government—in office between 2005 and 2011—allegedly resorted to conceal amounts with which he is said to have been bribed, for the benefit of Grupo Lena, Grupo Espírito Santo and the luxury development of Vale do Lobo.
In a statement sent on Sunday evening to Lusa, Sócrates argued that the court "is preparing to begin a new trial on facts that are already under discussion" in another case. The corruption charges are being heard in Lisbon since 3 July 2025, as part of the main Operation Marquês case, which involves 21 defendants, among them Sócrates and Santos Silva.
"To evaluate the money-laundering charges, the court will necessarily have to examine the alleged corruption facts that constitute the so-called precedent crime—precisely the facts that are being tried in the other case, in another court," the former Prime Minister emphasised.
Sócrates further argued that no one should be forced to defend themselves simultaneously before two different courts on coinciding factual matters, "bearing the duplication of costs, the repetition of evidence, personal strain and public exposure of two trials." In the statement, he accused the State of unlimited violence: "Thirteen years after the process started, the violence of the judicial State against me seems to have no limits."
The defendant recalled that the defence "always opposed the separation of the cases" and that the MP itself acknowledges that "in both cases coinciding factual material will be discussed, with evaluation of the same evidence." "The court itself recognised the need for a joint trial. Despite all this, a second trial is being prepared. When the solemnity of Justice yields to the absurd, the result is grotesque," he said.
The panel of judges responsible for the new case is composed of Rúben Vieira, Armandina Silva Lopes and Helena Leitão, who do not act exclusively in this trial, according to information from the Superior Council of the Judiciary. Hearings will take place at the Central Criminal Court in Lisbon until at least April 2027.
Both Sócrates and Santos Silva, aged 67, have denied committing any crime. A document falsification charge, which initially also appeared in the indictment for this case, has since been time-barred.
Source: CNN Portugal