One of José Sócrates’ finance ministers assured this Tuesday, November 4, in court, that the former prime minister insisted “from the beginning” that Armando Vara be appointed to the administration of Caixa Geral de Depósitos (CGD).
“From the beginning, engineer José Sócrates urged me to dismiss the administration of Caixa Geral de Depósitos and appoint Armando Vara”, he stated, in the trial of Operation Marquês, Luís Campos e Cunha, specifying that the intention would be that Carlos Santos Ferreira would be appointed president and Armando Vara vice-president.
The Minister of State and Finance between March and July 2005 stressed that this was not illegal, but maintained that there were “ethical considerations” to take into account and he did not want to “arrange ‘jobs for the boys’ [emprego para os amigos do partido]”.
In the indictment, the Public Prosecutor’s Office argues that José Sócrates and Armando Vara, who would end up being appointed administrator of CGD at the end of 2005, were bribed a total of two million euros by two investors from the Algarve resort of Vale do Lobo to benefit the luxury development.
The imputation is based on the assumption that Armando Vara was appointed to the administration on the instructions of José Sócrates, an allegation that, in the September 4th session of the trial, the former prime minister countered was false.
This Tuesday, Luís Campos e Cunha stressed that he had neither a good nor a bad opinion about Armando Vara, and José Sócrates even arranged a meeting between the two so that they could get to know each other.
When Carlos Santos Ferreira was appointed president of the public bank and Armando Vara administrator, the Finance Minister of the former socialist prime minister (2005-2011) was Fernando Teixeira dos Santos.
José Sócrates, Armando Vara and the two investors from Vale de Lobo are four of the 21 defendants in Operation Marquês and are mostly responsible for corruption and money laundering.
The 21 defendants have, in general, denied committing the 117 economic and financial crimes that are globally attributed to them by the Public Prosecutor’s Office.
The trial began on July 3 at the Central Criminal Court of Lisbon and has sessions scheduled until at least December 18, 2025.