Former Portugal PM Socrates arrested with others on fraud and money laundering

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-30177603

Can anyone remember him having a meeting in Portugal with Gordon Brown?

Hi Panda, it's been discussed on this thread:

https://missingmadeleine.forumotion.net/t28396-former-portuguese-prime-minister-jose-socrates-arrested-over-alleged-fraud-guardian

chrissie wrote:Hi Panda, it's been discussed on this thread:

https://missingmadeleine.forumotion.net/t28396-former-portuguese-prime-minister-jose-socrates-arrested-over-alleged-fraud-guardian

No disrespects but many Posters can't file.....Portugal is a foreign Country so is world News , not MM news.

It is of relevance to the Maddie case.

chrissie wrote:It is of relevance to the Maddie case.

i think you're stretching the rubber band a bit far saying that.

Marky wrote:

chrissie wrote:It is of relevance to the Maddie case.

i think  you're stretching the rubber band a bit far saying that.

Not really Marky as some people believe there was political inference.

chrissie wrote:

Marky wrote:

chrissie wrote:It is of relevance to the Maddie case.

i think  you're stretching the rubber band a bit far saying that.

Not really Marky as some people believe there was political inference.

i think one or two thought it was good political pr in the early stages but quietly withdrew when the portuguese police and some uk consular staff began to realise things were not as they first appeared but that's all.

chrissie wrote:

Marky wrote:

chrissie wrote:It is of relevance to the Maddie case.

i think  you're stretching the rubber band a bit far saying that.

Not really Marky as some people believe there was political inference.

This is about money laundering and fraud committed by Socrates so for that reason I will keep it going, anything you find relating to the McCanns post on the MM thread O.K?

No need to be so sharp Panda, especially posting in red. I wasn't suggesting that this thread should be deleted but just helpfully pointing you to where it was also being discussed. But don't worry, I simply won't reply to your posts anymore

chrissie wrote:No need to be so sharp Panda, especially posting in red.  I wasn't suggesting that this thread should be deleted but just helpfully pointing you to where it was also being discussed.  But don't worry, I simply won't reply to your posts anymore

I wasn't being sharp chrissie, merely pointing out the headline topic that I posted had no mention of Madeleine , merely the charges . We will just have to see if Brown gets a mention , personally I think it will concentrate on the fraud and money laundering, both serious charges. I remember Gordon Brown met with him, maybe he was recommending Metodo3.

jeez, it must be that time of the month.

Marky wrote:jeez, it must be that time of the month.

Marky, have you noticed the posting times are all up the creek, now the emoticons on my Computer are not working....very odd.

Posters do not get to decide what is or isn't allowed to be kept going and don't tell other posters where they can or cannot post. Admin and mods do if they feel it's necessary.

Claudia79 wrote:Posters do not get to decide what is or isn't allowed to be kept going and don't tell other posters where they can or cannot post. Admin and mods do if they feel it's necessary.

Claudia ,it is a question of filing in the right place, not to confuse members, not telling members where to post. This topic is about Socrates, not Madeleine or the McCanns, you as a Moderator should realise the need for uniformity. When I was a Moderator on 3a's  this was understood and made for easier navigation by members.

Panda wrote:

Claudia79 wrote:Posters do not get to decide what is or isn't allowed to be kept going and don't tell other posters where they can or cannot post. Admin and mods do if they feel it's necessary.

Claudia ,it is a question of filing in the right place, not to confuse members, not telling members where to post. This topic is about Socrates, not Madeleine or the McCanns, you as a Moderator should realise the need for uniformity. When I was a Moderator on 3a's  this was understood and made for easier navigation by members.

I wasn't asking for your opinion, Panda. I was telling you how things work (although by now I would expect you would already know). Please, do not tell other posters what to post or not or where. Thank you.

Marky wrote:jeez, it must be that time of the month.

What, a number between 1 and 31?

I am one of those who believe that there was political interference from Socrates and Broon (they sound like Breakfast Tea importers or something ) and so yes, it is very relevant to the McCann case.

Iris wrote:

Marky wrote:jeez, it must be that time of the month.

What, a number between 1 and 31?

I am one of those who believe that there was political interference from Socrates and Broon (they sound like Breakfast Tea importers or something   ) and so yes, it is very relevant to the McCann case.

yes and any one will do. all that red. i don't but i said that on the thread referred to above so i won't repeat myself and say it here.

Panda wrote:

Marky wrote:jeez, it must be that time of the month.

Marky, have you noticed the posting times are  all up the creek, now  the emoticons on my Computer are not working....very odd.

No they are not, the posting times are all perfectly correct. It's just that everyone's profile was reset by default to Port Moresby in PnG so you are viewing it as though there is a 10 hour time difference. This happened across all Forumotion boards when they upgraded their datacenters.

You can fix it yourself by going to your Profile, Preferences and just pick GMT or UTC from the box near the bottom.

Iris wrote:

Panda wrote:

Marky wrote:jeez, it must be that time of the month.

Marky, have you noticed the posting times are  all up the creek, now  the emoticons on my Computer are not working....very odd.

No they are not, the posting times are all perfectly correct.  It's just that everyone's profile was reset by default to Port Moresby in PnG so you are viewing it as though there is a 10 hour time difference.  This happened across all Forumotion boards when they upgraded their datacenters.

You can fix it yourself by going to your Profile, Preferences and just pick GMT or UTC from the box near the bottom.

Thanks Iris , I'lll try.LOL

You have a good memory, can you remember long time ago Socrates involved in a deal with a Company in Africa, I think that was why Gordon Brown paid a visit to Portugal.

Freeport outlet controversy[edit]
Since 2005, and, especially again in 2009, it was suggested by some Portuguese and British media that José Sócrates allegedly waived environmental restrictions, following intervention by one of his uncles and a cousin, to grant the British company Freeport a licence to build the Alcochete mall, a gigantic emporium near the Tagus river, developed in part on protected land outside Lisbon in 2002, when he was Minister for Environment of the PM António Guterres cabinet.[50][51] Portuguese authorities have meanwhile insisted José Sócrates was not under investigation, nor was he a suspect, while UK's Serious Fraud Office refused to confirm the veracity of reports emanating in Portugal. José Sócrates also stated the Freeport project was in due compliance with all legal requirements at the time.[52] Júlio Eduardo Coelho Monteiro, a businessman who is an uncle of José Sócrates, told the Portuguese newspaper Sol how he established contact between his nephew and Freeport's representatives.

In a DVD held by the British police and released in March 2009 by the Portuguese media, Charles Smith, a consultant hired to handle the licensing of the Freeport of Alcochete, clearly stated that José Sócrates "was corrupt" and that he received, through a cousin, money to give the green light to the project for the "outlet". The recording revealed by TVI is only part of a conversation of 20 minutes that alongside Charles Smith also included John Cabral, an official of the consultant, and Alan Perkins, director of Freeport. It was the latter who, without knowledge of the other two, has recorded the event, where Smith and Cabral were questioned about the money that left the company to be used for the payment of "gloves" to the current Prime Minister. Charles Smith is one of two defendants in the case Freeport, commercial space on the process of Freeport Alcochete, related to alleged suspicions of corruption in the amendment to the Special Protection Area of the Tagus estuary (ZPET) decided three days before the elections of 2002, through a decree-law, when José Sócrates was Minister of Environment.

The conversation now revealed took place in 2006 with the aim of explaining the large outgoing amounts of money from the company's headquarters in London at the time of approval of the project. According to some sources contacted in London by TVI, José Sócrates remains the main suspect of British police. The British police are now set to send to the Portuguese authorities the 25 volumes of all research done in this process in England. The Serious Fraud Office, which investigates major financial fraud in Britain, has seen its activity limited due to the lack cooperation of the Portuguese authorities in investigating the case. The first official meeting took place only on 17 November 2008 in The Hague, the headquarters of Eurojust, a body which is designed to facilitate judicial cooperation in the EU. The judge Cândida Almeida, director of DCIAP (Central Department for investigation and prosecution), which coordinates the department's prosecutor who investigates the case, refused a joint research proposal by the English. Then have taken note of the DVD. The prosecutor dropped the evidence, arguing that it was not in Portuguese law.[53]

The Eurojust tried to distance itself from the scandal involving its head, José da Mota, a Portuguese, who allegedly put pressure on prosecutors in order to stop a corruption probe involving Portuguese Prime Minister José Sócrates. Two magistrates dealing with the so-called Freeport affair accused José Mota of having tried to persuade them to side-line the investigation at the request of the Portuguese premier and the minister of justice. The premier and Mr Mota's relationship goes back to the late nineties, when they worked in the same government as state secretaries for environment and justice respectively. In 2002, when the new EU body was formed (Eurojust), Mr Mota was transferred to The Hague as Portugal's representative to Eurojust. He was elected head of the judicial co-operation body in 2007, at a time when the so-called Freeport case had already started in Portugal.[54]

On 22 May 2012, Alan Perkins, a Freeport manager between 2005 and 2006, said, under oath in court, that illegal payments had been made to the minister of the Environment. At the time, the minister of the Environment was José Sócrates.

Face Oculta scandal[edit]
Main article: Face Oculta
Another corruption case involving Sócrates is the Face Oculta scandal. On 28 October 2009 the police began investigating a business group headquartered in Ovar. Armando Vara, one of the suspects, is reported to have had "talks" with Sócrates. He denies any involvement, claiming he was only talking to a friend.[55]

In February 2011 the company TMN, that belongs to Portugal Telecom, claimed that, because of an informatics-related problem, all the information and data about the case and related to Armando Vara (ex-vice-president of BCP), Rui Pedro Soares (ex-manager of PT), Mário Lino (ex-minister) and Paulo Penedos (ex-assistant of PT) had disappeared.[56] David Dinis, editor of the Diário de Notícias newspaper, quit his job because of pressure from the director, João Marcelino, to stop this information being spread by the press.[57]

References and notes[edit]

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This is  copied from wikipedia , I remember now, since Gordon was chancellor at the time and Freeport a British Company that maybe is the reason Gordon went to Portugal