Former prime minister José Sócrates said in an interview with SIC last night that all this discussion about his high levels of spending and the money sent to him by his chum Carlos Santos Silva is just "gossip."
José Sócrates has not been too keen on explaining why he had been receiving money from his close friend who is in the same jail pending charges, but has said that the cash was in the form of loans made to him when he was having a few cash flow problems.
Latching onto this new explanation for the steady flow of cash from Silva, the former PM said any talk of illicit transactions is mere gossip and that as for any allegedly suspect financial transactions, “Carlos Santos Silva made me loans that I intend to repay. This is the truth and it is not a crime, neither here nor anywhere in the world.”
José Sócrates said that is not right to make moral judgements about his lifestyle and that he needed money during the time he was studying in Paris.
Carlos Santos Silva is remanded in custody for corruption, tax fraud and money laundering but proved to be a friend indeed to the cash-strapped politician as the prosecution claims that Sócrates received €500,000 over three years.
