Lisbon, July 15, 2025 (Lusa) - Former Prime Minister José Sócrates said in court on Tuesday that the accusation that the Lena group bribed him to abandon the high-speed rail project, which a consortium that included the business group won, was absurd.
At issue is a clause that provided that the winner of the tender for the construction of the Poceirão-Caia section of the high-speed line, held more than 15 years ago, would receive compensation when the Court of Auditors rejected the project, as it eventually did.
The Lena group, a minority member of the consortium, was awarded the right to compensation of more than €150 million by the court.
For José Sócrates, among the “five absurdities” of this accusation is the allegation that the Lena group made “large corrupt payments” in 2007 for “a project that, according to the accusation, did not exist” and that “were intended to obtain compensation from the State that remains unpaid”.
The idea that the former prime minister (2005-2011) had a “secret desire” for the high-speed rail project, one of his government’s flagship projects, to go ahead is the rational outcome. The idea of a “conspiracy” with another defendant removed from the project by his government is equally implausible. At the same time, the belief that a minority company (rather than the consortium) made the payments to lose the tender is similarly unlikely.
“The Public Prosecutor’s Office presents a determined move: with the evidence so far inconclusive, it now searches for something to accuse him of,” argued the former socialist leader on the fifth day of the Operation Marquês trial and fourth day of questioning, assuring that he only learned of the existence of the clause in 2017.
José Sócrates added that the Public Prosecutor’s Office raised the suspicion that “the tender was rigged,” and the consequence was that Spain built 1,500 kilometres of high-speed rail. At the same time, Portugal had yet to begin construction.
The 67-year-old former prime minister faces charges on 22 crimes, including three counts 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 in separate cases.
The case involves a total of 21 defendants, and the prosecution has charged them with 117 economic and financial crimes.
The trial began on 3 July at the Central Criminal Court in Lisbon, 11 years after authorities arrested José Sócrates.
The defendants have generally asserted their innocence.
IB/ADB // ADB.
Lusa
