Portugal's ex-prime minister held for second night in fraud probe

Jose Socrates, Portugal's former Socialist prime minister, spent a second night in jail before facing further questioning on Sunday in a tax fraud and money laundering investigation that has rocked Portuguese politics.

The detention of the former Socialist leader, the most prominent among several top establishment figures recently detained in separate corruption probes is seen as a severe test of the capacity of Portugal's often slow-moving justice system to deal with a high-profile and highly politicised case.

"Politics and justice in Portugal will never be the same now that a former prime minister has been detained at an airport and held in jail," wrote Daniel Oliveira, a columnist with the Expresso weekly newspaper. "This is an unprecedented earthquake."

Police detained Mr Socrates, 57, at Lisbon airport on Friday night as he arrived from Paris. The attorney-general's office said he was being held with three other people with links to the former Socialist leader on suspicion of tax fraud and corruption after a bank filed a notification under anti-money laundering rules.

After questioning the suspects, Carlos Alexandre, an investigating magistrate and the protagonist behind Portugal's most prominent recent corruption cases, will determine whether the investigation should proceed and if the four should remain in detention.

Political analysts say the case could have implications for the outcome of a general election scheduled for next October. The opposition Socialists (PS), the centre-left party that Mr Socrates led from 2004 to 2011, are ahead in the polls, but could be damaged by association with their former leader. "The detention of Socrates could prove toxic for the PS," said Bernardo Ferrao, a political commentator.

Mr Socrates was detained a week before a PS party congress was set to acclaim Antonio Costa, the mayor of Lisbon and its recently elected leader, and launch his campaign to become the next prime minister.

Mr Costa, who served as interior minister under Mr Socrates, shares the former prime minister's strong anti-austerity stance, saying the PS will "stand by all its history" and "not eliminate anyone from the photograph".

Mr Socrates, who was prime minister from 2005 to 2011, strongly resisted seeking international help during the financial crisis until Portugal's inability to borrow at sustainable rates forced him to negotiate a €78bn bailout with the EU and International Monetary Fund in May 2011. After he lost a snap general election the following month, he withdrew from active politics and moved to Paris to study political science.

The former prime minister continues to argue that the bailout, which plunged Portugal into a deep recession, could have been avoided if the opposition had supported his economic policies. But his opponents blame him for tipping Portugal into crisis by excessive borrowing and overspending on ambitious infrastructure projects.

During his political career, Mr Socrates was buffeted by media allegations of involvement in corruption ranging from the illicit approval of a construction project to bending the rules in obtaining a university degree.

But he had never previously been made a suspect in any case. The former premier attributed these media allegations to political opponents attempting to smear his name.

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