Lisbon, Sept. 4, 2025 (Lusa) - Former prime minister José Sócrates insisted in court on Thursday that he didn't put "money in my pocket" by selecting the Lena group for a project to build social housing in Venezuela, starting in 2008.
"I didn't put any money in my pocket. Don't confuse my pockets, because we often judge others according to our own needs," the ex-PM said in an excited tone when questioned by prosecutor Rómulo Mateus about the South American country's public programmes for building houses, in a comment that earned a warning from the president of the panel of judges that is judging Operation Marquês.
Earlier, Susana Seca had prevented the public prosecutor from asking questions about the transfers under suspicion, pointing out that it had been agreed that this would be dealt with at a later point in the questioning of the head of government between 2005 and 2011.
On the morning of the seventh day of testimony, dedicated to requests for clarification on Lena, José Sócrates reiterated, when confronted with several “emails” between third parties, that he neither accompanied nor had any intervention in the group's choice to build thousands of social housing units in Venezuela.
"What I see here is the diligent behaviour of a government whose political line was economic diplomacy," he said, adding that there was "no favouritism" towards the Lena group.
José Sócrates countered that the "big project he was involved with" was the Magalhães computer, in which he recognised he had a hand and dealt with the then-Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez.
The 67-year-old former prime minister has been indicted on 22 counts, including three of corruption for allegedly receiving money to benefit the Lena group, the Espírito Santo Group (GES), and the Vale do Lobo development in the Algarve.
There are a total of 21 defendants in the case, who have generally denied committing the 117 economic and financial crimes they are accused of.
The trial has been taking place since 3 July at Lisbon's Central Criminal Court.
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