Sócrates demands explanations from prosecution following closure of Parque Escolar case
The former prime minister has filed a motion in the Marquês case seeking clarification on the closure of the investigation into Parque Escolar.
Sócrates asks court for prosecution to account for itself following closure of Parque Escolar investigation
José Sócrates filed a motion on Friday with the court in the Operação Marquês case demanding clarification from the Public Ministry regarding the closure of the investigation into Parque Escolar. According to CNN Portugal, the former prime minister argues that the prosecution cannot continue to invoke suspicions that were not deemed sufficient to sustain an accusation in that parallel process.
In a statement sent to the press, Sócrates states that he has been subjected, over more than a decade, to a campaign of defamation fuelled by suspicions of corruption, breaches of judicial confidentiality and news reports that, in his view, presented allegations as proven crimes.
"Now that the Parque Escolar investigation has been closed, the Public Ministry cannot pretend that nothing happened," he writes. He adds that "justice cannot operate according to two truths: one for closing and another for continuing to accuse".
In the motion addressed to the presiding judge of the collective court at the Central Criminal Court in Lisbon, the former government official recalls the media coverage of 2014 and 2015, which associated his name with alleged favours, illicit awards and corrupt practices relating to Parque Escolar and the Lena Group.
To support his position, he cites five articles published by Correio da Manhã and Diário de Notícias, with headlines such as "Childhood friend bribed Sócrates", "Prosecution points to Lena Group as Sócrates' corrupter" and "Six million in bribes". In his view, these news reports contributed to creating a presumption of guilt before any trial. "None of this was true," he stresses.
Sócrates invokes the constitutional principle of presumption of innocence, whilst acknowledging, however, that the closure of an investigation does not, in itself, amount to acquittal in another process. Nevertheless, he argues that the Public Ministry has an obligation to clarify the scope of the decision to close the investigation and its relation to the allegations that remain in the charge sheet of Operação Marquês.
The motion asks the court to consider the closure decision, clarify any contradictions between the two processes and ensure that no allegation lacking evidentiary support continues to influence the assessment of his criminal responsibility.
"The Public Ministry owes explanations. And it owes them now," concludes the former prime minister.
Source: CNN Portugal