Former Portuguese PM remains in custody

A Lisbon court announced late on Monday that the judge dealing with the case had ordered that Jose Socrates be kept in preventative detention.

A statement from the judge read out to reporters by a court official said the former Socialist prime minister had been placed under formal investigation for "tax evasion, corruption and money laundering."

Socrates' lawyer, Joao Araujo, vowed to appeal the ruling, describing it as "deeply unjust, and unjustified."

The 57-year-old former prime minister has been in police custody since he was arrested on Friday after arriving in Lisbon on a flight from Paris.

Also in custody are three close associates of Socrates, including his personal driver.

Monday's decision came after the presiding judge had spent the weekend questioning Socrates about the allegations.

Suspicious bank transfers

The AFP news agency reported that a series of searches had been conducted, including of the former prime minister's Lisbon residence. It also cited Portuguese media reports that the investigation was launched after state-owned bank Caixa Geral de Depositos raised the alarm about suspicious bank transfers.

Socrates, who was prime minister between 2005 and 2011, is the first former Portuguese premier to be held in investigative custody. He resigned in 2011 after parliament rejected an austerity budget aimed at healing Portugal's financial woes. Shortly after he left office, Portugal accepted a 78-billion-euro ($97 billion) bailout from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.

pfd/kms (AFP, dpa, Reuters)