Former Prime Minister José Socrates and businessman Carlos Santos Silva begin to be tried for money laundering, in a case related to Operation Marquis, which refers to 2021.
© Lusa
19/10/2026
by
Lusa
O former Prime Minister José Socrates and businessman Carlos Santos Silva are now being tried for money laundering, in a case that resulted from the instructive decision of Operation Marquis, dated 2021.
It is the alleged use by the defendants between 2011 and 2014 of bank accounts of a company controlled by Carlos Santos Silva, his wife and José Socrates' driver to enter into the sphere of the former Prime Minister funds of illicit origin.
According to the prosecution of the Public Prosecutor, dated 2017, the entrepreneur will have been one of the iron foreheads to whom the head of government between 2005 and 2011 will have appealed to hide amounts with which it will have been corrupted to benefit Lena Group, the Espírito Santo Group (GES) and the luxury enterprise of Vale do Lobo.
Corruption crimes have been tried in Lisbon since July 3, 2025 in the main process of Operation Marquis, which has 21 defendants, including José Socrates and Carlos Santos Silva.
In the smaller case, José Socrates, 69 years old, and Carlos Santos Silva, 67, will be tried by a collective of judges composed of Ruben Vieira, Armandina Silva Lopes and Helena Leitão, who is not exclusively in the trial, informed the Superior Council of the Magistracy.
The trial will take place at the Central Criminal Court in Lisbon until at least April 2027 and the defendants have denied the practice of any crime.
Initially, José Socrates and Carlos Santos Silva also answered for falsifying documents in this process, with the crime prescribed in the meantime.