Two high ranking managers at Infraestruturas de Portugal officially have been made suspects in the four-year-old Operation Marquês investigation.
One of the suspects also is a former PSD member of parliament. The two suspects, who belong to the senior management team of the company, have been involved in the TGV railway project.
The actual charges in the long-running investigation will not be known until September, infuriating the main suspect, José Sócrates.
The prosecutors are still waiting for a reply to a letter rogatory sent to the Swiss authorities, after which, charges can be announced.
Operation Marquês most recently has been investigating the Ongoing Group and its relationship to Portugal Telecom and Grupo Espírito Santo, the influences at play and how José Sócrates managed to live the life of a millionaire in Paris with no visible source of serious income.
The cast of characters in the investigation is extensive with the former president of BES, Ricardo Salgado, and his cousin, José Maria Ricciardi, in the frame.
At a lunch in Lisbon last Sunday, Sócrates, being investigated for corruption, fraud and money laundering, again described the performance of the Public Prosecutor's Office as "criminal," because of information leaks and delays in charging him.
The former PM also criticised the prosecutor's office over the Galp freebie football match tickets case but the clock is ticking for the silver fox and charges finally will be announced against the former-PM after the summer.
Other defendants include Sócrates’ former wife, Sofia Fava; a former Director of Caixa Geral de Depósitos and former socialist minister, Armando Vara; his daughter Bárbara Vara; Luso-Angolan businessman, Hélder Bataglia, Carlos Santos Silva, the businessman and friend of the former Prime Minister; Joaquim Barroca of the Lena Group; João Perna, Sócrates’ former chauffeur; Paulo Lalanda de Castro from Octapharma; Henrique Granadeiro and Zeinal Bava, former directors of PT, Inês do Rosário who is Carlos Santos Silva’s mother; the lawyer Gonçalo Trindade Ferreira and the businessmen Diogo Gaspar Ferreira and Rui Mão de Ferro.
To this list now can be added two top people at Infraestruturas de Portugal.
