O caso Freeport Gate em Terras de sua Majestade

Edward and Sophie, Portugal's PM... and a £4m corruption row over giant shopping mall built by British firm ..... FREEPORT Gate!!

The Earl and Countess of Wessex have been caught up in an alleged corruption scandal surrounding a discount shopping complex in Portugal.
It was built by a British property firm Freeport, now being investigated over bribery allegations, and was opened by the Royal couple in September 2004.
The Serious Fraud Office in London is probing claims that four million euros were transferred to banks in Portugal to facilitate the deal.
The inquiry has engulfed several British businessmen and Portugal's Prime Minister Jose Socrates, who has denied taking bribes from Freeport.
At its heart is the claim that in 2002 Mr Socrates, then an environment minister, waived restrictions to grant Freeport a licence to build the complex on protected land.
But Mr Socrates insists he has never misused his ministerial position.
The shopping mall is sited across the Tagus river from Lisbon and includes 200 'factory outlets' selling mainly cut-price designer clothes.
Reports in Portugal claim SFO detectives, who have been working closely with Portuguese police, are investigating 15 people linked to the development, including Mr Socrates and several Britons associated with Freeport.
One is said to be the company's flamboyant 66-year-old founder Sean Collidge, a wealthy tax exile, who was forced to quit as chairman in 2006.
He then lost a £1 million claim for wrongful dismissal, during which his fellow directors accused him of financial impropriety and submitting a series of fraudulent expense claims.
Ruling against him, a High Court judge said in 2007 that he had 'dishonestly' and 'habitually' abused his position. Court documents also accused him of forgery, perjury and attempting to pervert the course of justice. Mr Justice Jack said Collidge had fiddled thousands of pounds of expenses between 2003 and 2005, taken property from the firm and forged loan agreements.
Mr Collidge approached Edward and Sophie to open the mall because, according to a former Freeport director, 'he had heard that they helped British investors abroad'.
Even at this stage the development was controversial due to environmental concerns. But the Foreign Office advised Edward to go ahead. The opening was followed by a Tom Jones concert and a huge fireworks display.
Freeport has since been taken over by The Carlyle Group, a US conglomerate, and Mr Collidge now lives in splendour near Cannes in the south of France. He was unavailable for comment last night.
Former Freeport director Jonathan Rawnsley was interviewed by the SFO but said 'it came to nothing'.
He added: 'Freeport absolutely did not bribe anyone - that was a rumour put about by our competitors.
'Sean Collidge heard that Edward had an ambassadorial business role and often helped British investors abroad. Sean approached him and he agreed to lend his name to the company and open the business in Portugal.'

Freeport's founder Sean Collidge, left, watching Edward and Sophie open the centre in 2004
But Buckingham Palace said last night that Edward had no formal ambassadorial trade role.
Two heavyweight Portuguese current affairs magazines, Visao and Sabado, have published details of a letter from the SFO to the Portuguese authorities last month, outlining the claims against Mr Socrates.
It is said to include a request for his bank statements.
Reports in Portuguese papers say that the Royal Family owned a large number of shares in Freeport at the time of the deal, a claim Buckingham Palace declined to confirm or deny.
An investigation into the affair started in Portugal in 2004 following an anonymous tip-off.
Initially Portuguese authorities sent a letter to police in Britain, where Freeport was based, requesting specific information on the company.
While police here willingly cooperated, they only appeared to become interested in the case following Carlyle's buy-out of Freeport in September 2007.
An internal audit following the buy-out was said to have revealed 'black holes' in accounts. The British interest in investigating money transfers linked to the shopping centre led, in turn, to the investigation being reactivated in Portugal.
A Portuguese Attorney General's Office spokesman confirmed police were investigating several bank transfers. They are believed to relate to offshore bank accounts. Mr Socrates has insisted he is innocent and blames 'dark forces' for reports linking him to bribery and corruption allegations.
The letter sent to Portugal by the SFO reportedly names 15 suspects believed to have been involved in criminal activities linked to the construction of the Freeport centre, including Freeport directors, Portuguese municipal figures and construction bosses and Mr Socrates.
They also include Scottish-born Charles Smith, who served as an intermediary in Portugal to deal with bureaucracy.
Portuguese paper Diario de Noticias alleged last week that British police have a DVD apparently showing Mr Smith admitting paying commission to Mr Socrates for his assistance in approving the Freeport deal.

Charles Smith helped win planning permission
It is on that evidence alone, Diario de Noticias claims, that investigators in the UK have shown an interest in Mr Socrates, along with seven other Portuguese-based suspects.
Mr Smith, who was contracted to obtain planning permission for the complex and licences from municipal authorities, is a long-term Portuguese resident.
He said: 'All will become clear but we are not making any comment now.'
Mr Socrates said on TV last week: 'The reports and the way they are presented are meant to target me personally and weaken me politically in an election year. Those who think they can beat me this way are wrong because I'll fight to defend my honour, my integrity.'
The shopping centre was one of several schemes carried out, sometimes in defiance of environmental protection orders, in a drive to modernise the country.
Mr Socrates faces a general election this autumn, battered by the economic crisis.
He said environmental approval of the project met all legal requirements at the time.
The complex needed Cabinet approval for regulatory changes. Ministers reportedly approved the changes three days before the 2002 general election, which the Socialists, including Mr Socrates, lost to the conservative Social Democratic Party. Portugal's environment secretariat subsequently granted planning permission.
'I never gave any instructions to give the case urgent treatment,' Mr Socrates insisted. 'I reject all insinuations and slanderous allegations that involve my name regarding this case.'
Buckingham Palace said: 'The only connection the Earl and Countess have with the Freeport Design Centre is that they undertook an official engagement to open the facility, at the behest of the Foreign Office.'
Former Freeport director Richard Newman said: 'They didn't know anyone in the company, I don't think. They were promoting British businesses abroad. It's what they do isn't it?'
A Freeport spokesman said: 'The board will not comment on rumour or speculation. This is particularly so in cases where the allegations relate to a period before the current Freeport board of directors or any of The Carlyle Group were involved or where, following its independent expert review of the allegations, the management has no reason to believe they are true.
'We will co-operate fully with any inquiries being undertaken by the relevant official bodies in Portugal or the UK, as we have consistently done in the past.
'Since taking over Freeport we have improved the performance at all of the company's malls and our focus remains on continuing to build on the successes rather than involving ourselves in issues which are wholly unrelated to the current business or its management.'
By: Ian Gallagher