Constitutional Court rejects appeal from ex-secretary of State and bank director Armando Vara

Portugal’s Constitutional Court has rejected a final and last-ditch appeal from a former secretary of State and bank director Armando Vara, who will now return to the prison where he has been since after the Covid-19 pandemic.

Vara is serving time for influence peddling and money laundering. The Supreme Court of Justice (STJ) had increased former Socialist minister Armando Vara’s prison sentence to five years and six months, in a legal combination of sentences handed down in the Face Oculta and Operação Marquês cases.

Judges had upheld an appeal by the Public Prosecutor’s Office (MP), which wanted the former minister to be sentenced to at least five and a half years in prison – up from the court’s decision in March 2023, which had imposed a sentence of five years and one month in prison.

The Supreme Court of Justice had ruled in February that Vara had no reason to allege that a partial pardon issued over emergency measures in the fight against Covid-19 and which took two years off his five-year sentence, should be maintained, and ordered that the cumulative sentence of five years and six months should be served in full.

Armando Vara was sentenced to five years in prison as part of the Face Oculta case, for three offences of influence peddling. He began his sentence in January 2019 and remained in custody until October 2021.

The Covid pandemic then saw him released, due to ‘exceptional measures’ adopted for prisoners, after serving two years and nine months – but, in the meantime, a court delivered a two-year sentence for money laundering in the Operation Marquês case, which saw him once again back behind bars in March 2023.

During the socialist government of António Guterres (who now heads the United Nations), Vara served as secretary of State for Internal Administration (1995-1997). Vara was then secretary of State Adjunct to the minister of Internal Administration (1997-1999).

In 2000, he was appointed Minister of Youth and Sport, but was forced to resign by the then President of the Republic, Jorge Sampaio and Prime Minister António Guterres over irregularities at the Road Safety & Accident Prevention Foundation – a case which was eventually shelved.

In 2012, Vara was back in the headlines for all the wrong reasons after being fined €50,000 by the Portuguese Securities Market Commission CMVM for “negligence” for not having prevented – despite being aware of the facts – a series of illegal acts carried out in the commercial network of State-owned bank Caixa Geral de Depósitos in 2006 and 2007, when Vara was its vice-president.

The case involved financing granted to clients and directors through hundreds of ghost accounts, amounting to €1 million for the acquisition of shares during the public offerings at oil and gas company Galp and electricity power grid company REN, and the public subscription offer of construction company Martifer.

On May 2, 2014, a Competition, Regulation and Supervision Court in Santarém fined Vara €40,000 euros for “negligent breach of the duty to defend the market” when he was a director of Caixa Geral de Depósitos.

The fine was partially suspended at €20,000 for a period of two years, to be enforced “if the defendant commits any criminal offense during that period”.

Armando Vara was accused of having approved, by signature, the granting of credit to Pedro Jorge Costa Santos for the acquisition of Galp and REN shares, in the amount of €220,000 and €618,000, respectively.

Operation Marquês

Operation Marquês, a long-running Portuguese corruption investigation, centres on former PS party Prime Minister José Sócrates, alleging he received millions in bribes.

The case involves charges of corruption, money laundering, and tax fraud against Sócrates and other prominent figures, including former bank executives. The investigation began three years ago and is ongoing, with a recent trial starting after over a decade.

The investigation’s core accusation is that José Sócrates received millions of euros in bribes in exchange for influencing decisions that benefited companies.

Charges against the 22 defendants include corruption, money laundering, and tax fraud. The case began a trial after more than a decade, with testimony from Sócrates beginning in July 2025.

The defence has raised several challenges, including a request to halt the trial due to the alleged partiality of the judge and the cognitive state of former BES banker Ricardo Salgado, who has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.

The case involves 117 alleged crimes, 21 defendants, and more than 650 witnesses, making it one of the most complex judicial cases in Portuguese history.

Operation Face Oculta

Operation Face Oculta, a nationwide political corruption, money laundering, and corporate tax evasion scandal, began in October 2009. It involved a complex judicial investigation that culminated in a sentencing in September 2014.

The investigation was conducted by the Judiciary Police (PJ) of Aveiro and the Public Ministry of the Baixo Vouga region.

It was the first time in Portugal that a major criminal case was fully digitized, allowing for digital copies of all documents to be shared with the defendants and their lawyers.

Image: RTP Archive.