Roundup: Arrest of Portugal's ex-PM takes country by suprise

Portugal's attorney general said on Saturday that former Prime Minister Jose Socrates was arrested for alleged corruption, money-laundering and tax fraud and the case has taken the country by surprise.

Former Socialist leader Socrates, 57, who was in power from 2005 to 2011, was arrested on a flight back to Lisbon from Paris late Friday night and was taken to an investigation judge on Saturday evening.

The attorney general said the detention of Socrates had nothing to do with the Monte Branco corruption case which began in 2011, centering on Portuguese and Swiss bankers and involving Ricardo Salgado, former chief executive of the bank Banco Espirito Santo (BES).

Socrates' government's credibility was tainted especially in 2012 when officials linked to him were charged with graft, money-laundering and influence peddling, in a case known as the Hidden Face scandal.

And prosecutors tried to reopen a case involving Socrates known as the 2002 Freeport scandal, when he and other two plaintiffs allegedly accepted bribes for the construction of a shopping mall on the outskirts of Lisbon.

But despite Socrates' reputation gravely weakened throughout these years, his detention on Friday took Portugal by surprise, Jose Manuel Fernandes, a political analyst and publisher of the Observador newspaper, told Xinhua.

"It really took Portugal by surprise, even though there have been cases involving the prime minister before," Manuel Fernandes said.

"He had been suspected on several occasions for eventual interference in companies and he had been investigated, but never had it got to the point that he has to undergo a police interrogation," he said, adding that the exact reason for his detention were unknown.

The report released by the attorney general's office points out that under Portuguese judicial secret law no details can be revealed on the investigation taking place.

Joao Soares, a socialist MP, reacted to the news of the detention by saying the process was "an attempt of humiliation" directed at the former prime minister, in a post published on his Facebook profile.

And it has been referred to as a "political disaster" for the Socialist Party, as political analyst Ricardo Costa told the Financial Times.

The detention of Socrates has served as a distraction from the ongoing gold visa scandal this weekend, which led to the detention of several senior officials last week.

Socrates has been blamed for plunging the country into a financial crisis by the opposition, leaving Portugal with no other option than seeking a bailout.

Socrates moved to Paris in 2011 when he lost the elections and went to study Philosophy at Sciences Po university.

He was at the Lisbon Justice Campus on Saturday evening after the authorities carried out searches in his Lisbon residence earlier in the day. Endit