Soares on warpath as Sócrates’ Paris home goes on sale for €4 million

Former Portuguese president, political warrior Mário Soares has hit out at the “wickedness” of the decision to remand José Sócrates in jail pending investigations into his alleged crimes of corruption, tax fraud and money-laundering.
The outspoken founder of the Socialist party – who celebrates his 90th birthday next week – claims his long-time friend, the prime-minister who delivered Portugal into the hands of the troika, has been treated “like a dog” and is completely innocent.
Calling the scandal that has been all over the nation’s television screens and front pages since last Saturday an “infamy”, Soares had nothing but derision for the “campaign” that he says is being waged against a man who was “an exemplary prime minister”.
Soares also dismissed criticism that he was trying to “pressure justice” by speaking out when all around him are measuring their words with extreme caution.
Talking to journalist Constança Cunha e Sá on TVI last night, Soares said: “I have never put pressure on the justice system, and I am not going to start doing so now.”
But the legal process that saw the former PM bundled at three in the morning into Évora jail was not “normal”, as there was no judgement that preceded it, he said.
And as for the allegations that have been splashed across headlines and newspapers for days, “we need to know if they are true”.
It is a similar line to tweets reported to have come from the wife of Sócrates’ lawyer João Araújo.
Meantime, as a satirical blog claims Sócrates is learning how to weave Arraiolos carpets in Évora’s prison, his Paris home in the elegant 16th “arrondissement” has apparently gone on sale for €4 million.
According to Correio da Manhã newspaper – the tabloid that claims it has been persecuted by Sócrates for years over ‘exclusives’ it carried implicating him in all kinds of intrigue – the apartment is one of the keys in the investigation dubbed Operation Marquês.
It is a property that “raised suspicions” among police tracking Sócrates, writes CM.
As the Pandora’s Box of allegations continues wide-open, Octopharma – the pharmaceutical giant that is understood to be heavily implicated in Operation Marquês – is reported to have ‘sacked’ Sócrates from his post as a €12,000-per month consultant for their operations in Latin America.