The Serious Fraud Office is embroiled in a fiasco that may inadvertently have settled the fate of José Sócrates, the Portuguese Prime Minister, and determined the outcome of that country’s elections in September.
Beyond Portuguese domestic politics, though, it could also lead to the decapitation of Eurojust, the European Union body designed to help to fight cross-border crime, and have wide implications for UK citizens who face prosecution under the proposed overseas bribery law.
Early this year the SFO wrote to the Portuguese authorities naming Sócrates as a suspect in a corruption investigation. The letter was leaked and sent shockwaves through Portugal. Sócrates was accused of bribery in 2002, when Minister for the Environment, over the building of the largest shopping complex in Europe. It was built by Freeport, a British company, on the Tagus estuary nature reserve, and opened by Prince Edward in 2004.
At about the same time the Portuguese police received an anonymous letter alleging bribes had been channelled to Sócrates by Freeport. Portuguese police wrote to the SFO in August 2005 requesting various pieces of evidence. There was little or no response. The Portuguese investigation apparently petered out, with no one arrested or formally classified a suspect.
