Opinion: Not Just Brazil

11/27/2014 - 16h56

Socrates was a classical Greek philosopher. Plato attributed to him the origins of the "Socratic Method" in which a series of questions was asked not only to elicit answers but to encourage insights into the issue at hand.

Socrates was sentenced to death by drinking a potion which included poison hemlock.

Jose Socrates (57) is no Greek philosopher. He is the former Portuguese prime minister who was arrested last Friday (21) on his arrival at Lisbon's Portela Airport from Paris on suspicion of tax fraud, money laundering, and corruption.

Socrates was the Socialist Prime Minister between March 2005 and June 2011.

He resisted seeking international help during the financial crisis until Portugal was forced to accept a 46 million Euro bailout from the European Union (EU), the European Central Bank (ECB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which required the imposition of stringent austerity measures. He was then defeated in a snap general election and withdrew from politics and moved to Paris.

It is not the first time Socrates had been accused of shady dealings (allegations included a dubious property deals while he was minister of the environment when construction was allowed on protected land and claims that he exaggerated his university credentials).

But what shocked observers was the fact that it was the first time a former prime minister had been arrested and detained. It followed several other shocks.

The arrest of the head of Portugal's immigration service, Manuel Palos, allegedly linked to the sale of "golden visas" whereby wealthy foreigners purchased Portuguese residency for 500,000 Euros. Then Miguel Macedo, the minister of the interior resigned.

All of which may (or may not) have to do with the collapse in August of Portugal's largest private conglomerate the Espirito Santo Group (the Portuguese specialize in classical or biblical patronymes).

The head of the Banco Espirto Santo, Ricardo Espirito Santo Salgado, was arrested for alleged tax fraud and money laundering, but was released on a 3 million Euro bond.

The Espirito Santo Bank was also involved in Angola.

Very little happens in Angola without the participation of long serving (since 1979) President Jose Eduardo dos Santos and his cronies, particularly his oldest daughter, Isabel dos Santos, who was born in Buku, Azerbaijan, then part of the Soviet Union, to his first Russian wife.

According to "Forbes Magazine" billionaire Isabel dos Santos is now Africa's richest women.

She has major interests in Portugal in banking and telecommunications, and in Angola in banking, diamonds, and oil. Angola is among the most corrupt counties in the world.

In 2013 it was ranked 168 out of 178 countries on Transparency International's "perception of corruption" index. Brazil ranked 72 and Portugal ranked 33.

Brazil's corruption problem certainly has "Lusophone" company. But like Portugal, Brazil is now beginning (potentially at least) to do something about it.