The wife of a former minister of José Sócrates guaranteed today in court that, contrary to what was defended by the prosecution, an employment contract signed with a company belonging to an alleged figurehead of the former prime minister was real.
At the trial of the Operation Marquês case, in Lisbon, Ana Bessa, agricultural engineer and wife of Pedro Silva Pereira, assured that in 2013 and 2014 she provided consultancy services to a company owned by Carlos Santos Silva for a fee of five thousand euros per month on investment opportunities in the African market.
Recalling that at the time she had “17 years of activity in the tropics”, the specialist in the area of environment and energy admitted that she did not produce any written work, but highlighted that she shared verbally the evaluation of the information she obtained from different sources with Carlos Santos Silva, in meetings at one of his companies in Lisbon.
“The work was done”, he stated, adding that he did not share a report with the businessman because he was, in November 2014, arrested, on suspicion of being one of the front men used by former Prime Minister José Sócrates (2005-2011) to receive money originating from corruption.
For the Public Ministry, the employment contract was falsified and an expedient for José Sócrates to pay expenses related to Pedro Silva Pereira, minister of the Presidency in the socialist’s two governments and, for years, his close friend.
Among these expenses, in the prosecution’s thesis, was also the accommodation, in 2013, of the couple’s son in Paris when the young man completed an internship in the French capital.
Today, Ana Bessa said that, at the time, she was surprised that the accommodation was in an aparthotel and not in the house of her ex-wife and one of José Sócrates’ children, with a price of almost 15 thousand euros.
Asked if she knew who paid this amount, the agricultural engineer replied that she did not.
At the beginning of the testimony, when asked if currently maintains her friendship with José Sócrates, Ana Bessa stressed that this ended when Operation Marquês begandue to the “loss of trust” in the friend that the process gave rise to and because she ended up being involved in the case.
Pedro Silva Pereira, who was considered the former prime minister’s right-hand man, also broke off their friendship, revealed the former minister’s wife.
José Sócrates, 68 years old, is accused (accused after instruction) of 22 crimes, including three of corruption, for having allegedly received money to benefit the Lena group, to which Carlos Santos Silva was linked, the Espírito Santo Group (GES) and the Algarve resort of Vale do Lobo.
In total, the case has 21 defendants, who have, in general, denied committing the 117 economic and financial crimes that are globally attributed to them.
Carlos Santos Silva, 68 years old, is also one of these defendants and is responsible for 23 crimes, while Pedro Silva Pereira and Ana Bessa were not accused of any offense.
The trial has been taking place since July 3 at the Central Criminal Court of Lisbon and has sessions scheduled until at least December 18, 2025.