By: CHRIS GRAEME and CECÍLIA PIRES
THE FORMER police chief who headed the investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann has stood by controversial and potentially libellous statements in his tell-all exposé Maddie The Truth of the Lie, Maddie, a Verdade da Mentira, launched in Lisbon on Thursday, July 24 and two days later in Portimão.
During the book launch and signing session at Lisbon department store El Corte Inglés, Gonçalo Amaral, when asked by a British journalist what he thought of the McCanns’ intention to sue him, replied ambiguously: “A good person (i.e. an innocent person) does not reply to provocations”
He made it quite clear that he did not fear any eventual legal court case against his book, saying “we can go to court and argue this case out”.
The former PJ inspector was also asked if he had written the book “only to earn money out of the McCann case.” Amaral said he had already been contacted by British papers and offered “a lot of money” for excerpts of the book and first-hand accounts of the case but said that he had, through his publisher, refused the offer.
Gonçalo Amaral did tell journalists that there were “other things and facts related to the Maddie case” and “not everything I know is in the book.”
In the book, he criticises the British police as well as the friends of the McCanns who were with them in the Algarve.
He claims the British police were slow to provide information asked for and took months to pass on a potentially vital witness statements.
The former police inspector said that his only objective during the time he led the case was to discover the truth of the facts and that the book merely reflects the work carried out and developed by his team.
Algarve launch
Amaral presented his book to the people of the Algarve on Saturday in the auditorium of Portimão Museum. There were no new revelations but the mood was lightened by Portimão Câmara president, Manuel da Luz, who took the opportunity to comment about page 69 of the book where the author mentions the “annoying sound of the water fountain” facing the Câmara building, interrupting meetings held during the investigation.
He joked: “I must say something to my department of engineers!”
Clarence Mitchell, spokesman for the McCanns, said: “They will not hesitate in taking legal action against Amaral if any passage requires it.”
Amaral has said: “This book is not revenge, it is not persecution. We can discuss the case in court if they want.”
Meanwhile, the war of words between the Portuguese and British press has heightened with British paper The Sun describing Gonçalo Amaral as “fanciful” and “shameless” while Portuguese newspaper Correio da Manhã has described Kate McCann as manipulating the British media.
The Portuguese daily alleges that to avoid criticism by the British press the McCanns offered photographic sessions of themselves with the twins, according to information gathered from Kate McCann’s diary.
Do you have a view on this story? Email: editor@the-resident.com
