Amaral's Wife Sofia Leal, Casa Pia and her Socialist Party Employers
admin on Fri 21 May 2010 - 7:14

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Silly me. Nearly forgot to mention that Inspector Amaral's wife, Sofia Leal is on very friendly terms with the Landerset family: Sofia (Three Arguidos translator, 'Astro'), Monica (Casa Pia Pre School teacher) and Francisca.


Sadly, since I first mentioned all this on this blog, Sofia Lial has decided to pull her Facebook friends from public viewing. As has Astro (Sofia de Landerset) et al.

According to rumours online (and I must emphasise they are rumours), another figure to feature in the Casa Pia story, journalist Felcia Cabrita, went on to testify in favour of Goncalo Amaral during court proceeedings brought by Antonio Silva - the father of Joana Cipriano, the child who went missing in 2005. Silva alleges that Amaral tortured a confession out of him.
In circumstances that seem less than clear, Felicia Cabrita was able to able to get access to names, addresses and landline numbers for the entire Tapas Group for her 'Pact of Silence' story. The story, which first ran in Portuguese newspaper, SOL in June 2009, was ostensibly the opening shot of the Portuguese Press’s war on the McCanns. It has also proved to be source material of choice for every blogger and forum member determined to attach somekind of conspiracy to the event. Whilst we can only speculate that the details of the Tapas group came from one of Amaral's officers or Amaral himself, internet rumours persist of a more complex personal relationship between the officer and the journalist. As with the Madeleine investigation, Cabrita (a voluptuous, peroxide blonde as popular for her cleavage as her exclusives) went on to launch a coordinated attack on Leonor Cipriano - the mother of the girl who went missing.

In an exclusive interview with the Daily Express, Amaral's wife, Sofia Lial, described her work in the office of Socialist Party Mayor, Manuel da Luz.

In 2007, around the time of Madeleine's disappearence, the pair were involved in several large construction projects, including attempts to build a new airport in Portimao and a Grand Prix race track. The Mayor, Manuel da Luz was present at the 50th birthday party bash for Goncalo Amaral when the lawyer for Leonor Cipriano, Marcos Carreia made allegations of assault by party guests.

According to Amaral's book, 'The Truth of the Lie' it was Manuel da Luz who was able to provide Police with a garage in which to impound and inspect the Renault Scenic.The inspections eventually took place on August 6th, in the unoccupied floors of an underground car park, opposite the PJ's offices in the Mayor's city, Portimao.

In July 2008, a number of gun shots were fired near the building where Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates met with Manuel da Luz and members of his Socialist Party (PSP) in the southern city of Portimao.

Investigators recovered seven bullets from the scene. Around 300 PSP members were present in the building at the time of the shooting.

Last year British Police probed allegations that Portugal's Socialist Prime Minister Jose Socrates accepted bribes from a British building firm to build a 75,000 square-metre (800,000 square-foot) Freeport shopping complex in Alcochete, near Lisbon. The alleged deal dates back to 2002 and specifically targets the Socialist Prime Minister.

In contrast, October 2009 saw the green-light given to a similar 35,500 square metre shopping complex in Sofia Lial's hometown of Portimao.

The shopping complex - Aqua Portimão - was publicly unveiled at a press conference attended by regional dignitaries, future shop owners, and the media. Excluding the Jumbo hypermarket which is also planned, the centre represents an investment of around €106 million. Set to open at the beginning of 2011, it comprises 132 shops, 7 key stores and more than 20 restaurants all spread over three floors.

The project had originally been conceived with Lagos in mind. More recently the Portimao Mayor launched an extraordinary proposal to create a new municipal tax on Tourism.
Makes you wonder if any British construction companies like John Geraghty's Laing O'Rourke were hoping to land any building contracts. Everyone from those with restaurants to those with property must have been expecting a windfall future for the Algarve.

As a direct consequence of the Serious Fraud Squad's investigations into Freeport corruption, Portuguese prosecutor Jose da Mota, the head of Eurojust, the EU's anti-crime agency, was forced to resign in December 2009. It is alleged the Head of Eurojust put considerable pressure on Portuguese prosecutors to stop the Freeport corruption probe involving Prime Minister Jose Socrates.

I wonder what kind of impact the abduction of a British Child in Portimao would have had on the investment plans?

notes:
Quick recap: we have Joana Morais' mother Graca Morais who canvases for Socialist Prime Minister Jose Socrates (Freeport Scandal etc), Paulo Reis and his work in Portuguese Colony, Macau for the Socialist Government in the late 80s early 90s and Mrs Amaral who works in the office of Socialist Mayor of Portimao, Manuel da Luz closing deals on huge tourist and retails projects (not Freeport this time, but Aqua Portimao).

Is there a pattern developing here? Could we really be talking about a coordinated crisis management effort? A loose coalition of corrupt cops, journos and bloggers dedicated to preserving the economy of the Algarve?

One can only imagine the pressure Eurojust's Jose da Mota was similarly placing on prosecutors to stop the Madeleine investigation or what Algarve preservationists like Jose Borba Martins would have thought to plans for Aqua Portimao (weren't the Leicester Rogatory requests alleged to have been stalled by Eurojust?)

Also, I have just been looking over the 3D imagining plans produced by the architects for one of the retail outlets at Aqua Portimao and recall that the Lison-based Madeleine bloggers, Sofia de Landersett (Astro) and Joana Morais are both in this line of business.