The long arm of justice has finally caught up
with Portugal's ex-PM, José Sócrates
for his disastrous, corrupt socialist regime,
that has brought the country to its knees,
having to plead for an international bail-out,
just to pay salaries of public servants,
and essential services.
The last 3 years has been hard times for the portuguese,
caught up fully in an international financial crisis,
having to comply with the strict Troika (IMF, EU and ECB)
rules and fiscalization,
with unemployment soaring to nearly 18%,
hundreds of companies declaring bankrupcy
and about 300, 000 young people
emmigrating to look for job opportunities elsewhere
in Europe, Africa and Brazil.
But what some politicians have forgotten
is the fact that Portugal still has to pay back
the 78 billion euro loan conceeded by the troika.
Sócrates indebted the country until 2050!!
Hard times indeed!!
A tragedy.
But José Sócrates has been living like a king,
with at least 20 million euros hidden away in Swiss banks
and many more millions in other offshore fiscal paradises.
By a clever scheme of money laundering,
these illegal funds were moved by his childhood friend
and accumplice Carlos Santos Silva (also detained).
Part of his luxurious lifestyle in Paris,
where Sócrates went to live after losing the elections
to the current ruling party coalition,
was a 3 million euro mega apartment
in the posh, most expensive part of Paris.
To sustain his extravagances,
Carlos Silva withdrew more than 12,000 euro
per month as Sócrates' pocket money.
Shopping on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills at the Bijan Store,
(the most expesive store in the world with clients ONLY by appointment),
was part of his favourite passtimes.
Tonight is the third night that he is forced to sleep in detention
in police barracks, awaiting another day of interrogation tomorrow.
After all the corruption scandals
where Sócrates' name invariably popped up,
and with the help of his friends in high judicial positions
protecting him from prosecution,
his day has finally come.
In the 1997 Cova da Beira Case,
the Judicial Police wanted to carry out a house search in 2003,
but the request was denied
by the Public Procecutor Pinto Monteiro.
In 2004 the Freeport Case:
dragged on in court until 2012.
Three days BEFORE early elections
in which the socialist party lost governance,
the plans to built the Freeport Shopping Outlet,
in a protected bird santuary nature reserve,
was approved in record time.
The 27 questions which the procecutors wanted to ask Mr Sócrates
were simply NOT INCLUDED in the accusation process in 2010,
with Sócrates already the arrogant Prime Minister.
In March 2005 Sócrates won elections to become the first
Socialist PM with an absolute majority in Parliament.
In March 2007 the Case of the dodgy engeneering degree,
obtained in 4 exams done on a Sunday afternoon in August,
full of contradictions and false documentation.
Then the Face Oculta Case:
where his best friend, and a Minister in his cabinet,
Armando Vara, stood accused of corruption
with wiretaps between the PM and Armando Vara,
but the Supreme Court Judge, Nascimento Noronha,
ruled that all wiretapes of phone conversations be destroyed.
To mention all the details where Sócrates' name are involved in,
would require writing a book, instead of just a blog entry.
Sócrates detention has been a cruel blow
to the credibility of the Socialist Party,
whose new leader was chosen today.
All his ex-ministers and deputies,
many of them cumplices in the ex-PM schemes,
must be trembling in their socks tonight,
awaiting the knock on the door at 3 or 4 o'clock in the morning,
when justice comes calling.
At the "Largo do Rato" literally, the "Rat Square",
the Socialist party's headquarters,
many "rats" must feel the panic creeping up on them,
instilling a strong desire to jump ship,
in these turbulent times.
Hopefully the capital's sewage system will not be blocked by the rat stampede!!
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