Interview Hart van Nederland - 05.05.2009
Voice over: “Exactly two years after her disappearance, there is still no trace of the toddler and that is, according to the former police inspector, mainly due to Maddie’s parents themselves.”
Gonçalo Amaral: "The investigation - they were based on the premise, right from the first moment when they denounced the case to the police, they gave a communication, saying that there was an abduction, an abduction by paedophile networks, and Portuguese ones. So, anything that was investigated outside of that abduction theory, that was sold by the parents, that theory is sold by the parents, wasn’t in their interest."
Gerry McCann: “She was wearing pyamas’s almost identical to these ones”
Voice over: “Gerry and Kate McCann told in dozens of countries, also in the Netherlands, that their little daughter was kidnapped. But in his book Amaral states that he is 100 percent certain Maddie died in the family’s apartment.”
Gonçalo Amaral: “The cadaver odour, the DNA - the DNA was - the blood traces, don’t forget that the animal that was used, the dog, it only found blood, human blood, and it did find some – blood that is later defined as coming from Madeleine McCann.”
Voice over: “In an interview with ‘Hart van Nederland” (7 June 2007) the parents indicated they were dedicated heart and soul to find Maddie back.
Kate McCann: “When you are doing something which is potentially positive, which might help, certainly helps to ease the helplessness, even if temporarily”.
Voice over: “But according to Amaral that is not true at all.”
Gonçalo Amaral: “The entire result goes into that direction. The parents themselves were more concerned about themselves, about the fact that they were made arguidos, than with the result of the – with knowing the truth and knowing where their daughter was.”
Voice over: “According to him (Amaral) eye-witnesses have clearly seen that it was father Gerry himself who carried the dead Maddie in the direction of the sea.”
Gonçalo Amaral: “Later, he identified that man as being Gerald McCann. 80 percent.”
Voice over: “Amaral was dismissed from heading the investigation into the case in October 2007. But nonetheless he is hoping that the truth about Maddie will come to light once.
Gonçalo Amaral: “I have worked in the police all my life, to discover the truth. Not to believe in that today, would be questioning the cause that I have served for 28 years at the Polícia Judiciária, which was the discovery of the truth."
Hart van Nederland website
Translation text on website
Portuguese inspector writes book about Maddie
· Publication: 05/05/09 22:32
· Last edited: 05/05/09 22:55
Gonçalo Amaral has written a much talked-about book about the disappearance of the English toddler Madeleine McCann.
The Portuguese inspector who headed the investigation into the case, writes that Maddie is dead and he still considers Maddie’s parents as suspects. Although the investigation was archived last year, the case still preoccupies the inspector. And his book, now published in the Netherlands, is so controversial, that nobody dares to publish it in the United Kingdom.
Café crime: L'enquête interdite
Europe 1 - Jacques Pradel avec Georges Moréas et Gonçalo Amaral
07.05.2009
Jacques
Pradel : Hello everyone. Welcome. The "Café crime," switchboard is now
open on 01 42 32 15 15 for questions
and reactions on what is
coming up in this broadcast. If you are on the interent, we are also
receiving emails on Europe1.fr.
And two years after
little Maddie's disappearance in Portugal, there are still many gray
areas surrounding the circumstances
of this news story,
which within a few months acquired global magnitude. The case is still
not resolved. The investigation
is officially closed.
Maddie's
parents, under suspicion at one time, went home to England, exonerated. (1)
They continue to focus on the
theory of abduction and
to mark this anniversary, the coordinator of the Portuguese PJ's
investigation cell for some
months, Mr Gonçalo Amaral, has decided to break his silence on the
behind the scenes details of the
case. He resigned to put
in writing, in a book that comes out in France today, the reasons for
his not believing that Maddie
was abducted.
In this book, titled "Maddie, l'enquête interdite", published by Bourin,
Gonçalo Amaral puts forward his reasons for thinking, in all conscience
and freely, that Maddie died in the apartment where
her family spent their
holiday in south Portugal. For him, Maddie's parents are involved. They
invented the theory of their
little girl's abduction,
with the certain complicity of other British couples who were there, to
evade their responsibilities. (2)
Mr Gonçalo
Amaral is the guest of "Café crimes," together with Georges Moréas,
former chief superintendent of the
PJ, who himself is
passionate about his case. And then we will also have live on this
broadcast, from London, Europe 1's British
correspondent, Amandine
Alexandre. She is going to tell us what Maddie's parents Gerald and Kate
McCann are doing now. She
will also tell us about
the contents of a television show which will be shown this evening in
England on Channel 4.
But first of all, we go back to the precise circumstances of a mysterious disappearance.
On Saturday
April 28th 2007, four British couples accompanied by their children, and
one of the couples by the
maternal grandmother,
arrive at the airport in Faro, capital of the extreme southern region of
Portugal. Nearly all of them
are doctors. They've
regularly spent short holidays together for several years. (3) On that day,
they boarded a minibus, available
for the tourists to
travel the 70 kilometres to their final destination, a tourist complex,
the Ocean Club, in the town of
Luz, not far from Lagos.
On their
arrival they were allocated several neighbouring apartments, on the
ground and first floor of a block,
the rear of which faces
onto a swimming pool, a tennis court and a restaurant, the "Tapas." (4) The
front entrance faces onto
the car park in front of
the building, which is surrounded by a one metre high wall, open in the
middle. There is no video
surveillance or private
security. Access to the recreational areas is not monitored either. Luz
is a tourist village, built
in the 60s - 70s and
most of the tourists are British.
On the
evening of May 3rd, the McCanns dine with their friends at the "Tapas,"
restaurant. At around 10pm, Kate
gets up from the table
to go and see if the children, who are sleeping in their apartment on
the ground floor of the nearby
block, are ok. Her two
year-old twins are sound asleep in their cots. The door to her nearly
four year-old daughter Madeleine's
bedroom, is not closed,
which alarms her. (5) She goes in. The window is open, the shutters raised,
the breeze ruffles the half-open
curtains. Maddie has
disappeared. Immediately, panic-stricken Kate runs back to the
restaurant to alert her husband and they
return together to the
apartment, accompanied by their friends who cannot take it in. The four
couples then set to search
the surrounding area,
and, finding no trace of the little girl, they call the police. (6)
That same
evening, the director of Lisbon's PJ gets a call on his mobile phone
from the British Ambassador. His
caller asks if he is
aware of the disappearance of a little British girl. He dropped
everything and made lots of phone calls
to find out. During this
time the Portuguese police arrive at the Ocean Club. They determine
that there is no disorder in
the bedroom where Maddie
was sleeping. The bed is not disturbed, there is no evidence of
tampering, either on the window,
on the blinds that open
from the inside, or on the door. Investigation of the surrounding area
leads the police to find witnesses,
Irish holiday-makers who
state that just before 10 o'clock, they noticed a man carrying a small
female child whose description
matches that of the
little girl. (7) Everything now supports the idea of an abduction. The
general alert is put out to all Portuguese
police. (8)
In the days
and weeks following, the Portuguese PJ gather hundreds of witness
statements, more or less fanciful,
but all are checked,
without success. Very quickly the police note certain contradictions
between the accounts of the evening
given by the four
couples and the mother of Fiona Payne, wife of the doctor who organised
the trip. She is called Dianne Webster.
She is 65 years old.
One of the
women states, for example, that she walked past the McCanns' apartment
earlier in the evening. She noticed
that Maddie's bedroom
shutters were closed. (9) Later, Kate stated that the window was open and
the shutter lifted. A shutter,
let's repeat, that can
only be opened from the inside and which was not forced. The child's
bed, according to her, was not
disturbed, as if the
child had not slept there. (10) Intrigued, the Portuguese police officers
noted that the calls log on the
McCann couple's mobile
phones had been deleted. That could only have been the result of a
deliberate action. So, why, why
did they delete the
memory on the two telephones when a child had just been abducted?
Meanwhile,
pressure on the Portuguese police was quickly becoming unbearable. They
had a hard time working calmly
in the middle of the
pack of journalists from around the world, while the British ambassador
was on the spot, accompanied
by the big wigs of the
police and Portuguese legal authorities. British police would soon
arrive too to lend a strong hand
on the ground, while for
the Portuguese, the contact, let's say, isn't good, the Portuguese
police feel humiliated, are they
incapable of leading
their investigation by themselves?! (11)
The McCann
couple, on their part, make statements after statement before the
television cameras, and the director
of the Portuguese PJ
himself states officially, while the investigation is a long way from
being complete, that it's an abduction.
(12) The investigators on the
ground, themselves, are thinking of another possibility - the
involvement of the McCann parents.
In fact, a certain number of worrying details have been noted on the quiet by the investigators.
Two dogs were
brought from England, trained in the detection of corpses and traces of
blood, and these dogs marked
several places inside
the apartment - in the couple's bedroom and in th dining room - as well
as outside the building. More
worrying still, these
dogs alert on the child's soft toy and on clothes belonging to Maddie's
mother. Placed near a car hired
by the McCanns after
Maddie's disappearance, there too they sniff suspicious odours. On the
other hand, they didn't react
in the car of a British
suspect who lives a hundred metres from the leisure complex.
The noose
tightens around Maddie's parents while the police recover, from the
places marked by the dogs, minute
organic traces which are
compared with the McCann family's DNA. the analysis is conclusive. It
indicates 15 markers identical
to the little girl's
DNA. In France, let's say, while we're at it, only 13 are needed to
expose a suspect. (13)
The McCanns are placed under investigation from the start of September, but their movements are not restricted. Meanwhile the
case takes on this international magnitude. The British press let loose
against the incompetence
of the Portuguese
police. (14) Prime Minister Gordon Brown is himself contacted by Maddie's
parents. You said pressure? They present
themselves as victims of
slow-witted police who are blaming the family rather than searching for
the missing child. There
are sightings meanwhile
from around the world, and in particular in Morocco, which will turn
out, later to be a real red herring.
A support fund is set up. Donations flow in from all over. Money that will be used above all, to defend the suspects.
And then
comes the sudden turn in events. At the end of September - beginning of
October, new DNA analyses carried
out by the British
forensic laboratory in Birmingham, take the opposite stance to the first
analysis. Once again, the Portuguese
police are accused of
having mixed up Maddie's DNA with that of her parents during the lifting
of the samples. The Commissioner,
Gonçalo Amaral,
immediately requests a second opinion. "Impossible," the English reply.
There will not be a second opinion,
the samples have been
destroyed or lost, we don't know. (15)
Amaral has
had enough, he says in his book, all this media hooha, the pressure from
the political authorities,
the pressure from his
bosses prevent him from working calmly. He is set on by the press, by
his English counterparts who cause
trouble for him at the
slightest provocation. Exasperated, he lets go one day during the
umpteenth interview with the press.
Immediate disciplinary
action. His bosses leap at the opportunity and take command of the
investigation from him. Without
beating about the bush:
he is fired! (16)
Gonçalo
Amaral, after several months of bitter reflection, convinced that he had
come close to the truth with his
fellow investigators,
but also convinced of having been prevented from going further, took the
only decision that reconciled
it with his honour and
that of his PJ colleagues: he resigned and he explains in his book the
reasons why he is still convinced
that Maddie's parents
have made, perhaps, a simple domestic accident, look like a mysterious
abduction. (17) You might think, that's
his position, he will
tell us all about it presently, about a fall by little Maddie in her
bedroom, or death due to an overdose
of sleeping medication
given to the child to leave the parents in peace with their friends in
the nearby restaurant.
One question
presents itself now in
this case: where is little Maddie's body?
JP : Hello Mr Gonçalo Amaral
Gonçalo Amaral : Hello
JP : OK, I'd like to say that there is another person who is participating in this show, it is Mrs Paula
Martins. Hello. And she is the translator.
Paula Martins : Hello
JP : Hello. OK you are going to translate for us, my words and those of Georges Moréas, hello.
Georges Moréas : Hello.
JP : Georges Moréas, then, former commissioner of the French Judiciary Police and who feels passionately, and who will tell us why in a moment, about this case. And for me, it is very important today to have a police officer with all that represents in obvious experience and I would hazard a guess - if I dare say - to go a lot further in this case, in this impossible case, in this forbidden case as suggested by the title of this book that comes out today in France, from the publishers Bourin. One, one first very brief question, Mr Amaral. This book came out, I believe, a year ago in Portugal. For you, you were humiliated, you were angry, what state of mind were you in when you decided to write this book?
GA : I was in a normal state of mind, aware of my actions and I never felt myself to be humiliated, or frustrated. Police officers do their work to achieve a goal. We work in a way that's impartial, objective and the final objective is effectively that justice is done and that we find the truth. But, it's something that couldn't be done and the investigation was closed before we could get there, and my book is just a way of trying to bring the truth to light and to show the work that was done by the police. Because we are accused, amongst other things, of being incompetent, we had spent many hours in the restaurant, nothing was done and here it is, the result of this work is in this book. (18)
JP : Yeah, I....
GA : So, I present it here in this book. Had we been truly incompetent?
JP : OK, but I agree with you, but it must be said that at that time
certain of your British counterparts
and all of the British
press unanimously presented Portugal as a third world country, incapable
of carrying out a police investigation.
GA : A job that was beautifully done by a government spokesperson who was with the couple, with a very specific focus, that is to say that, it isn't the police who are accusing us of being incompetent because the investigation, the investigation was Portuguese and British. So, at that time, we were all of us incompetent. (19)
JP : Hmm mm. OK, we will obviously come back to the details of this
case and with you, Georges Moréas,
then, in a short while.
We are going to take the first break and we will come back to the
impossible investigation and the
forbidden investigation.
(Break)
JP : Yes and facing him a colleague, Georges Moréas. They have just
met in this Europe 1 studio. OK,
let's recap, eh, you
were commissioner for the judiciary police. So, why have you been
passionate from the start, I know,
about this case, you
talk about it in your, in your blog on the internet.
GM : Yes, absolutely. In fact I was asked at the start by....My attention was drawn. It was the organisations that wrote about the abduction on the internet and I tried to find out, I gathered information, I found this case absolutely gripping and so sad. And, and so on my blog I talked about it as it went along, and I have lots of questions come up on this blog. And there is one which I could put directly to Mr Amaral, because it comes up a lot, it is, in fact: why the Portuguese police...there is the impression, elsewhere, and in reading your book, that you set out solely on one track, the track of abduction, ruling out, a priori, the possibility of an accident, of murder, or whatever.(20)
GA : That's a good question. It's perhaps the most important error of the investigation. But it is a decision that was a strategic decision by the police, of the leadership. There was fear of a reaction from the parents if they learned that they were suspects. And so that track of abduction was tried. The idea then was to carry out this investigation on the basis of abduction and then, if we arrive at a standstill, to retrace our steps to find out what happens, what happened in the apartment. Good, you know that abduction is the kidnapping of a person and those who did the inspection did it as if it was about the theft of an object. The entry and exit of the persons weren't looked for. They weren't very bothered about DNA, or about fingerprints, or about those who were residing, or about how the people were dressed. It was a failing of the PJ, a failure of protocol in cases of this type and there is actually a protocol conforming to international standards. The case can no longer be approached as simply an abduction.
JP : Yes, but at the same time, Georges Moréas, how did you get on? You have read the book this year? (laughs) While it comes out today. Eh, it was noticed however, Mr Amaral that, parallel to the research on abduction, however, you lift fingerprints in the apartment, notably very significant, in this story of closed shutters and of that window open or closed, and then the arrival of the dogs, who tell you that there was a body in the apartment.
GA : Absolutely. The dogs said it. There was a body and we had also
seen that neither before or after
May 3rd, someone died.
So, it is a recent body. There is no doubt that the blood that was found
there was the blood from the
body of Madeleine
McCann. (21)
JP : OK, then, Georges Moréas, I think you have made a lot of enquiries, obviously, in your career. Who represents that external pressure when you heard me just then recall the pressure, then, eh: political authorities; superior authority; the English ambassador; the press....How does it feel when you are leading an investigation in those conditions?
GM : It's terrible for the investigators to have such pressure. And on a case, whether it's an abduction case or another case. But in a case of abduction it is more unusual because we know that, when it happens, there is a small child, the life of a small child who could be at risk. What I don't know, but perhaps Mr Amaral could answer, is what is the independence of the judiciary police in relation to political power in particular, or the administration in general? (22)
GA : Nowadays, there is none. That is one of the big questions, and
it is what drove me to leave the
police. It is felt that
there is a heavy political weight in the police, notably in
investigations. This is something that
must change. The
directors, now, they are political commissioners. Each time the
government changes the director of the police
changes. So, it is
really a political dependency that goes from the top to the bottom of
the hierarchy.
JP : Yes. But were very rapid results required of you?
GA : Actually the opposite. I remember that in September we already
had the results of the laboratory
tests. And as we work,
we set about finding the cause of death - because that is what interests
us: the circumstances of death,
and if there is
involvement of third parties or not, or if we are only looking at an
accident or something else - I was contacted
by a director of police
who told me not to preoccupy myself with it because this wasn't the only
case looking for a solution,
not to take this case so
much to heart, there would be no problem if the case did not proceed. And
so I understood that, at that
moment that, the case
was going to be archived. (23)
JP : Yes, and you particularly understood, eh....can we talk about protection of the McCann couple? And by whom? You say in your book, for example, that they obtained details about the investigation that should never have known given that they could be liable to be themselves suspects.
GA : Exactly. And meanwhile they should have been suspects. The
protection came directly from England
with Gordon Brown's
intervention. Truly disastrous intervention because he believed from the
start, in this couple and in
political terms,
subsequently, he cannot go back on it. Kate McCann's notes record this
elsewhere, "the political pressure
must be increased." That
is what she wrote about it in her diary. And everything turns on this
question in fact. They had
the information. From a
certain moment they had access to British liaison officers. The first
were sent away because, from
the first day, they
asked Kate McCann where her daughter was, because they understood that
she must know. So, there was immediately
from that moment
pressure from the chief officers of these police. There was disciplinary
procedure and their careers are
at risk.
There's another fact. That couple had meetings practically every week with the directors of police where they were
given information about all progress in the case. It's not possible!
JP : That's when you hold your head up high, Georges Moréas, isn't it?
GM : It's ???????? In France, however, we haven't got there.
GA : In no case.
JP : OK, moving on, we're going to return to other aspects of this
investigation in a short while.
Coming up, after the
break, rejoining Amandine Alexandre in London to update us on what is
happening on this "anniversary,"
day, two years after
Maddie's disappearance. A little bird tells me, as Amandine Alexandre is
going to tell us more about
it in a moment, that in
the course of a television show to be shown on Channel 4 this evening, a
new sketch is going to be
shown of a new suspect
that the McCann family says wasn't checked out by the Portuguese police.
(Break)
JP : With the former coordinator of the Portuguese investigation
squad, Mr Gonçalo Amaral, who has
just published this book
in France, "Maddie, l'enquête interdite" published by Bourin. With
Georges Moréas, former commissioner
of the judiciary police.
With Amandine Alexandre in London whom we will go back to shortly. But
first an archive, a Europe
1 archive, dating from
the month of September 2007. September 9th to be precise. Remember that
Maddie's disappearance took
place on the night of
May 3rd 2007, and then McCanns went back to Britain very quickly and you
are going to hear the spokesperson,
the couple's
spokesperson, who is called Justine McGuinness, explain this return to
their country.
Justine McGuinness : Kate and Gerry McCann return to Britain today with their twins, Sean and Amélie, as planned. They want to get them back as soon as possible to a normal life in their own country. The family's return is done with the agreement of the Portuguese police authorities. The family requests, with all their heart, that the search to find Madeleine goes on and that everyone remains vigilant. The Portuguese law forbids Kate and Gerry to make any further comment on the investigation. Although they have many things to say they can say nothing, except this: they are absolutely not responsible for the disappearance of their beloved daughter.
JP : OK, we'll go back in a minute to the McCann couple's current situation since they were both told the case is closed. But Georges Moréas, you were telling me while we were listening to that, it isn't possible. They are still the accused, in the position of being accused, the couple.
GM : There you are, it seems that the Portuguese procedure is very different from the French procedure.
JP : Of course.
GM : And well, it's not really an accusation, nor being placed under investigation.
JP : Yeah.
GM : It's a position of, you might say, assisting witness.
JP : Assisting witness. That's the closest to us.
GM : Yes, the closest, that tallies.
JP : Right, so that means that if there were a trial tomorrow they could appear as assisting witness.
GM : That's it.
JP : OK, we're going back immediately to Amandine Alexandre in London. Hello Amandine.
Amandine Alexandre : Hello
JP : So, on this "anniversary, day, is it an anniversary in London too? What's happening around the
Maddie case?
AA : Lots has been said about the Maddie case. At last, it's
being talked about again, in fact,
from this weekend. First
of all because Kate and GerryMcCann have been invited, guests of Oprah
Winfrey, that...
JP : Yes, in the United States, yes.
AA : Right, in the United States. And in fact, it is on the platform of Oprah Winfrey that they
revealed, they showed a photo of Maddie, Maddie at 6 years.
JP : Yes.
AA : So, it's a photo that's been produced by computer from photos of Kate and Gerry McCann at
age 6 years.
JP : Yes.
AA : And it's true that it's going to be talked about again for a few days now - I would hope to
say - the Maddie case. And now even more than ever.
JP :: Yes.
AA : Because this morning the press published the portrait of this suspect. The computer sketch
of a man who was allegedly seen by three different people.
JP : Mmm
AA : And this evening, then, British television is going to show a documentary.
JP : Yes, I saw it because you sent me the internet link to see that
photo of the new suspect. Eh,
"scarface," named by the
English press because his face is marked like what is called "pock
marked," hmmm?
AA : Yes, that's it. In fact this computer portrait, from what I understand, from the information
that came through this morning...
JP : Yes.
AA : ...has been produced, above all, from a witness statement.
That, that of a British tourist
who says she saw this
man on two occasions in front of theMcCanns' apartment and that this man
looked like, hmm, that he wouldn't
pass unnoticed because
he effectively had a pockmarked face. She described him as, "a very ugly
man."
JP : Yes, he looked the part, hmmm? He was a kind of...
AA : Yes.
JP : ......nitwit rocker, emaciated face, eyes deep-set in their sockets, a big hook nose....In short,
he had an ugly mug.
AA : Yes, and so she said that when she saw this man, in fact,
she was almost afraid. She was walking
with her little girl and
she was even stopped in her tracks. Finally, she gripped her little
girl's hand, because that man
frightened her.
JP : Yes.
AA : And, eh, there are two other people, two other witnesses,
who say, they too, and well, they
saw a man standing at
the front of the McCanns' apartment and who was staring at the balcony
of the apartment.
JP : Yes, OK, this evening, eh, there's going to be the showing on
Channel 4 of this documentary which
you haven't seen,
obviously. But we know a little more, we know what's in it, or...?
AA : Well, yes, we know, in fact, that this documentary shows
Gerry McCann, Maddie's father, going
back to Praia da Luz. It
was filmed last month. He went back with two friends who were also on
the spot, who were part of
the group of his friends
with whom he went on holiday and in fact with the help of a team of
actors, as well as the television
team, reconstructed
Maddie's disappearance, and Maddie's abduction, since Maddie's parents
are convinced that their daughter
was abducted.
JP : Yes. Reconstruction of the famous evening of, the night of May 3rd to 4th. I'll be back shortly, Amandine. I would just like to get Mr Amaral's reaction to what he's just heard. This computer portrait, notably, this man described by the witnesses, the English journalists are saying that, once again, the Portuguese police did not follow up that lead but that these witnesses had approached you at the time. Is this true?
GA : OK. I could laugh about it if the question was not serious because it's sad to see this evidence, quote, of abduction. Because investigation of the surrounding area that we carried out led us to several suspects in that area. We interviewed everyone, but it's truly sad to see that there was someone in the garden that we didn't identify. We've got an idea of someone who matches that, and I'm not talking about that person who is in the garden. There is gentleman who matches the physical description of that colleague David Payne, who was seen in that place. It's strange, that this kind of thing is put out and that people are looking for computer portraits. This has always got to be somebody who looks Mediterranean, ugly, not at all British, somebody who causes fear. And it's somehow how the English do things. It's another thing in the same vein as what's been done. And it's sad.
JP : That's it. Well. OK, and well, it's very clear from everything
you are saying. We're having another
break and then we'll be
back to the Maddie case shortly with MrGonçalo Amaral and Georges
Moréas.
(Break)
JP : And before
handing over the stage to my guests in the studio, we're going back to
London to Amandine Alexandre.
Eh, you were telling us
that the English press is finally talking about this case again, mainly
because of the show the McCann
couple did in the United
States with Oprah Winfrey. It's also being taken up again because there
is the publishing of that
famous computer portrait
in the television show this evening, and that reconstruction, of the
evening of May 3rd. But as well
as that, the idea that
the McCann parents could be implicated in this case, Amandine. What do
the British say about it?
AA : OK, listen to the British press since last July, since the Portuguese investigation was closed...
JP : …was closed. Yes.
AA : OK, eh, for the British press, Maddie's parents are innocent. There's more. There is no longer any question of the parents' guilt, and, the documentary takes up the McCanns' life now without their daughter. Eh, the fact that Kate McCann has stopped working to devote herself solely to the search for Maddie and that in the couple's house, Maddie's bedroom is still there, and in the documentary Kate McCann apparently relates that several times a day she goes into her bedroom to talk to Maddie, to say to her, "this is what we're going to do today," and that the couple's two children, the twins, who are now 4 years old, also talk to their sister. So, the suspicions that weighed on the McCanns are totally gone, no doubt about it in the British media.
JP : OK, thank you very much for that spot, Amandine. I remind you that Amandine Alexandre is Europe
1's correspondent in London. I think you'll be watching telly this evening?
AA : Yes. That's the plan.
JP : Thank you very much, Amandine.
AA : Bye.
JP : Good afternoon. Eh, Georges Moréas you you had questions, questions that bring us back to the
McCann couple.
GM : Yes, because if I understand properly this evening there is going to be a reconstruction with comedians. So, I would like to ask Mr Amaral if after the events, after Maddie's disappearance, was there a reconstruction in Portugal or not?
GA : It was amongst the first things we tried to carry out, but it was decided higher up that conditions were not right on the ground to do this reconstruction. There were too many journalists present. Too many people were there on holiday and we would be interrupting the holiday of these people. We would have to have closed the airspace and then it was said that the reconstruction would be done later. But later, after the couple were made suspects, placed under investigation, the couple refused. And those who replaced us, the Public Ministry acted in a way that we consider a bit strange because the reconstruction, there were witnesses and suspects under investigation and it wasn't obligatory to carry out the reconstruction with everyone present. But the couple would have to do it, would have to come back to Portugal, but the Public Minister decided that there was no interest in doing that reconstruction with just the couple. And it's a shame because now we wouldn't have all the confusion.
JP : Of course. But I think that even if you are no longer in the investigation, since you have retired, remember this, for writing your book, your Portuguese colleagues will be watching with a great deal, a great deal of attention, the reconstruction that has been done. As everyone is saying, under the direction of the McCann family and their friends.
GA : We're all going to watch it together, because it shouldn't be
forgotten that this reconstruction
is based on three
people. Mr Gerald McCann , Mr Matt Oldfield and us, and everyone
allegedly lies. So, we are going to see
who is lying and we hope
that the investigation will be reopened. They hope not. But this will
be an important document, even
for the investigation.
The document that will be seen today, founded on lies, is important.
Then, what must be seen is what
lies behind.
JP : Yes. And have I understood properly that Portuguese law retains the possibility of relaunching the case even if the investigation is now officially closed?
GA : The investigation is not in fact closed. it's archived awaiting better evidence and that's why
they are still suspects, under investigation. Because if the case is closed...
JP : I just interrupted you.
GA : Yes.
JP : Yes. Excuse me.
GA : We must be able to reopen the case.
JP : Yes, exactly. But it's there that I would like to add a
question. It's what we call in France
- Georges Moréas, stop
me if I'm wrong - a new detail that could relaunch a case which is
within the prescribed period.
GM : That's the difference. With us, the investigation is not archived, let's say.
JP : Archived. Yes, that's it. So, a new detail can relaunch the Portuguese investigation.
GA : Yes, absolutely. But it's the Public Minister who has to analyse it.
JP : OK.
GA : Only the Public Minister can make the decision by analysing
these new details, if he considers
it of interest. But
perhaps the Attorney General of the Republic will have to be changed for
that.
JP : OK, yes, that follows on from what you were saying before. Yes, Georges...
GM : Yes, if the parents requested the relaunch of the investigation?
GA : That would be interesting. But you know that the parents don't
want investigation in Portugal
and don't want it either
in England because we have heard, just now, that the British press is
on the side of the parents,
so consider them
responsible for nothing, but the English public, on the other hand, it's
not altogether the same thing. There
are people who are
trying to find out what happened to that little girl. It's not about
accusing the parents , but they want
an investigation to be
opened in England because the child is British and as you know, the
British authorities have the skills
to do it. But the
parents don't want the investigation. A police investigation, they don't
want it.
JP : Ok, we're going to have a last break and go to the last part of the show. The time is going really quickly. I remind you, if you pick up the invest...the investigation, listen now, we are talking about the investigation about Maddie. "Maddie,l'enquête interdite" it's the title of the book by Mr Gonçalo Amaral, former coordinator, of the search for Maddie. This book comes out today published by Bourin. There's not bad revelations inside, some of which we haven't talked about yet. We will get there in a minute.
(Break)
JP : Ok, if you doubted that we are live, you know now. OK, a direct
question immediately for Mr Gonçalo
Amaral and here I refer
directly to the book that has just come out. You talk about, you say
that all these couples have been
getting together for
years for short holidays, like that, a little unusual and notably so in
Minorca, I believe, in Majorca,
pardon, in 2005, and me,
when I read your book, I understand that David Cayne, David Payne,
pardon, looks very much like a
paedophile. You don't
write the word "paedophile," but you hint that he has inappropriate
gestures related to children.
GA : No, I don't use that word. I talk about his obscene gestures in
relation to Madeleine McCann.
It's an accusation that
had been made on May 16th 2007, in England, 14 days after the
disappearance, and which only got to
the PJ on October 26th,
after I had left. And nothing was done about it.
JP : OK.
GA : So, other than that gesture, if you look carefully at what is
written, he was bathing the children
in a certain
inappropriate manner. It was he who was bathing the children and I
wonder if he didn't do that with her, with
the little girl that day
of May 3rd.
JP : OK.
GA : It's an accusation but there is no investigation in England. Meanwhile, they say they no longer
have the paperwork for this accusation.
JP : So, if we care to continue with the reasoning, which is that of
your book, where you say, quite
clearly for me, that
little girl died in that apartment, the dogs proved it for us, the
traces of blood proved it for us,
and what happened was
made to look like an abduction, but that you found it to be total
fantasy. So, that means that all the
couples who went on
holiday with the McCanns are complicit. And they are listened to.
GA : Let's say that, for me, they are complicit in negligence or
perpetrators of negligence on their
own children because
they abandoned their children during these nights out. Children of 2-3
years who stayed in the apartments
alone until very late.
JP : Very late, yes.
GA : It's something that in England leads to the children being
taken into care. So, if that happened
to Madeleine, if the
investigation carried on, it could have been understood why they lied,
why Matt Oldfield lied, and why
several people lied?
Because at 10pm someone on the other side of the village sees Gerald
McCann with the child, carrying
the child and someone
else says that the child was seen carried by Gerald McCann but that he
was going in the opposite direction.
So, that has to be
understood.
JP : You have, Georges Moréas, a personal conviction, like that, about this case?
GM : Maybe, I must confess that I am, I am rather in agreement with
my Portuguese colleague Amaral
because it doesn't fool
anybody, and I understand very well that he is a bit - excuse my
expression - that he is pissed off.
JP : Yes, because, well, you've read this book in depth too, eh? So,
eh, there is perhaps a last point
that Mr Amaral needs to
clear up. It's that the domestic accident that you envisage - I ask you
to answer very quickly - it's
the child falling, a
story about, about, about seating, eh, I'm looking for the... a sofa -
but you have explained that in
the book - the fact that
she was given a sedative and apparently you have proof that the parents
gave sedatives to their children?
GA : There is a witness, a witness statement. There is no other
evidence. The question of the accident
is very simple. It's a
pyramid that could only result in death by the intervention of third
parties. That was the postulate
from the start. The
initial hypothesis, to justify the blood and cadaver odour behind the
sofa , it was an accident. Noticing
the position of the sofa
and the window. But that's a postulate. A starting point for
understanding what happened, given the
circumstances, the cause
of death and if there was intervention or not by a third party. As the
couple did not allow us to
do something, get on
with the investigation sooner, we were not able to develop this.
JP : Right. So, point of debate but at the same time a well argued
case. Thank you very much Mr Amaral.
Thank you Georges
Moréas. Look, he has handed over his place to Faustine Bolleart. But no,
Faustine, not yet.....I simply
give you once again the
title of this book which has just come out today. So, "Maddie, l'enquête
interdite", revelations from
the Portuguese
commissioner in charge of the investigation. It's published by Bourin.
(1) Le 9 septembre 2007, juste après avoir être constitués "arguidos", autrement dit témoins assistés (auparavant ils avaient le statut de victime), autrement dit "suspects informels", les MC, qui étaient à PDL depuis plus de 4 mois, ont demandé au Ministère public l'autorisation de prendre la poudre d'escampette. Ils étaient donc loin d'être "exonérés".
(2) Gonçalo Amaral ne dit à aucun endroit de son livre que les MC sont impliqués, même si cela est sous-entendu. Il ne fait allusion à aucune complicité provenant du groupe des neuf, bien que l'enquête ait considéré comme non fiable le témoignage de Jane TV, seul élément en faveur d'un enlèvement.
(3) Dans ce groupe les MC occupent une position marginale. Leurs seuls amis sont les WP, amis des deux autres couples. Si les WP étaient déjà partis en vacances avec les deux autres couples, c'est la première fois que les MC se joignaient à ce groupe.
(4) L'immeuble n'est pas dans l'enceinte dite du Tapas, qui n'est accessible que par un petit bâtiment de réception. Entre l'enceinte et l'immeuble, il y a une allée piétonne flanquée de très hauts murs.
(5) Les trois enfants MC dorment dans la même chambre, sise du côté nord de l'immeuble, donc du côté du parking (et non du côté de l'enceinte Tapas).
(6) Est décrit ici ce que Kate MC dit avoir vu dans la première narration, pas dans les suivantes. On ne peut pas dire que les "4 couples" ont cherché dans toutes les directions. Parmi les 5 femmes, une (Dianne W) est restée à table, une autre (Jane TB) était dans son appartement auprès de sa fille malade et une autre encore (Rachael MO) a immédiatement regagné son appartement. Kate MC est restée dans son appartement, la seule à avoir cherché est Fiona WP. Quant aux hommes, Matthew MO est parti vers la réception principale, David WP vers le restaurant où ils avaient dîné le premier soir avec leurs enfants et Russell TB a parcouru les abords de l'immeuble. On ne sait pas où est allé Gerald MC entre 22h et 22h10.
(7) Tout faux ! La famille irlandaise (9 personnes) qui a croisé un peu après 22h un homme portant une enfant très semblable à Madeleine ne s'est manifestée que 15 jours plus tard, probablement parce que l'homme qu'ils avaient croisé avait l'air d'un père emportant son enfant endormie et non un ravisseur. La confusion vient probablement du fait qu'il y a eu deux porteurs d'enfants (voir note 8).
(8) Un seul élément donne corps à la théorie de l'enlèvement (le porteur d'enfant aperçu par Jane TB vers 21h15), qui est en fait la théorie par défaut, car l'enfant a bel et bien disparu sans laisser de trace.
(9) En réalité, c'est un membre du groupe, Matthew MO, qui a confirmé que les persiennes étaient fermées vers 21h. Les persiennes des chambres nord de tous les appartements étaient fermées jour et nuit.
(10) Selon les gendarmes et la police scientifique (photos).
(11) Aucune déclaration d'incompatibilité ne corrobore cette insinuation. Il suffit peut-être d'imaginer que les policiers d'un petit pays peuvent se sentir intimidés par les policiers d'une grande puissance lorsque la victime du crime sur lequel ils enquêtent est citoyenne de cette grande puissance.
(12) Totalement faux. Les autorités n'ont cessé de dire, jusqu'à la fin de l'enquête, qu'aucune piste n'était écartée.
(13) Les analyses ne sont pas concluantes, plusieurs personnes ont contribué à l'ADN détecté en quantité plus qu'infime.
(14) Les médias n'ont pas rendu la vie facile aux MC lorsque des incongruences ont commencé à surgir et surtout après l'arrivée des chiens CSI et HRD, lorsqu'ils ont compris que la PJ ne recherchait plus seulement une Madeleine vivante. Quand les MC furent constitués arguidos, les médias se permirent de ne pas respecter la présomption d'innocence. Toutefois une batterie d'avocats haut de gamme mit fin aux impertinences médiatiques. Du coup c'est contre la police, les autorités, le peuple portugais que les médias se déchaînèrent. Les MC ne bronchèrent pas, bien que le respect de la police du pays souverain pour résoudre la disparition de leur enfant fut de leur intérêt.
(15) Non, les résultats du FSS de Birmingham qui arrivèrent ensuite étaient aussi non concluants que les premiers. L'idée de complot vaut ce que l'on sait. Des échantillons ont été détruits, certes, mais c'est la norme s'agissant de résidus biologiques. La PJ avait toutefois une quinzaine de jours pour mettre un véto à cette destruction.
(16) Gonçalo Amaral a peut-être dit tout haut ce que tout le monde pensait tout bas (les MC, pourtant arguidos, se servaient des policiers britanniques, ceux-ci étant du reste rentrés au Royaume-Uni dès que les MC eurent plié bagage), mais qui n'était pas bon à dire. Rien n'indique que l'idée était de l'écarter et le motif un pur prétexte. Rien n'indique que sa perspicacité ait été jugée inquiétante... Rien, dans l'enquête, ne permet d'imaginer qu'il n'ait pas été politiquement correct. Gonçalo Amaral ne fut pas "vidé", on lui confia des affaires plus appropriées à son domaine de compétence.
(17) On pense à Epictète et aux signes auxquels il reconnaît l'homme en progrès : il ne blâme personne, ne loue personne, ne reproche rien à personne, n’accuse personne ; il ne dit jamais rien qui tende à faire croire qu’il sait quelque chose ou qu’il est quelqu’un. En cas d’échec ou d’obstacle, il ne s’en prend qu’à soi-même.
Gonçalo Amaral n'explique aucunement, dans son livre, pourquoi les MC auraient travesti un accident fatal en enlèvement.
(18) Il est parfaitement exact que l'équipe chargée d'enquêter sur la disparition de Madeleine MC a été odieusement vilipendée, insultée et traînée dans la boue par les (nombreux) tabloïds britanniques. Encore une fois il est curieux que les MC n'aient pas songé que cracher sur la PJ était contraproductif.
(19) Le porte-parole des MC qui a laissé sciemment ou non les médias s'enferrer dans le dénigrement de la PJ est Clarence Mitchell, dépêché à PDL par le gouvernement alors qu'il dirigeait l'observatoire des médias. Plus tard les MC l'engagèrent comme docteur folimage et il renonça à son poste officiel. GA a raison de distinguer les relations des POJ portugais et britanniques, qui furent dans l'ensemble productives.
(20) Comme ex-commissaire de la PJ, Georges Moréas s'étonne que la piste de l'enlèvement ait été d'emblée privilégiée, au détriment de l'accident, de l'homicide.
GA répond que ce fut la plus grande erreur de l'enquête. Mais... ce n'est pas sa faute... La hiérarchie est responsable.. "On" avait peur de la réaction des parents s'ils apprenaient qu'ils étaient suspects... donc on a fait leurs quatre volontés, autrement dit on a suivi la piste de l'enlèvement en se disant que si elle n'aboutissait à rien on reviendrait en arrière. Cette méthode, ou plutôt l'absence de méthode, est surtout efficace pour tailler les verges avec lesquelles on sera fouetté. À qui incombait-il de surveiller le travail des policiers envoyés sur le terrain ? GA admet cependant qu'il y a eu là une faille de la PJ qui ne devrait plus se reproduire, eu égard aux critères internationaux.
(21) Le chien EVRD (Eddie) a détecté une odeur de cadavre, il est possible, mais pas certain, que cette odeur résiduelle provienne de Madeleine puisqu'après tout l'appartement est le dernier endroit où on l'ait vue vivante. La chienne CSI (Keela) n'alerte que lorsqu'elle détecte du sang, invisible ou non. Même si les analyses avaient montré que le sang détecté était celui de Madeleine, aurait-ce été suffisant pour en déduire qu'elle était morte ? On peut mourir sans que le sang coule et on peut perdre du sang sans mourir.
Tout au plus, les alertes des chiens constituent une présomption. En aucun cas une preuve.
(22) Georges Moréas demande si la police judiciaire est indépendante par rapport au pouvoir politique et à l'administration en général. GA répond qu'il n'y a pas d'indépendance et que c'est ce qui l'a amené à quitter la police. Ah... on croyait qu'il était parti pour écrire un livre dans lequel il dirait ce qu'il pense, mais dans son livre il n'est pas question de l'indépendance de la police judiciaire portugaise...
(23) Il est possible qu'on ait suggéré à Gonçalo Amaral de ne pas faire d'excès de zèle en tranchant dans le vif sans pondération (voir note 21), de ne pas confondre opiniâtreté et acharnement, constance et idée fixe, ténacité et entêtement. Eût-il su manier la main de fer sous le gant de velours il aurait peut-être traqué la vérité dans ses derniers retranchements. Il n'avait décidément pas le profil de l'emploi, mais cela du moins est une erreur dont il n'est pas responsable.
(1) Le 9 septembre 2007, juste après avoir être constitués "arguidos", autrement dit témoins assistés (auparavant ils avaient le statut de victime), autrement dit "suspects informels", les MC, qui étaient à PDL depuis plus de 4 mois, ont demandé au Ministère public l'autorisation de prendre la poudre d'escampette. Ils étaient donc loin d'être "exonérés".
(2) Gonçalo Amaral ne dit à aucun endroit de son livre que les MC sont impliqués, même si cela est sous-entendu. Il ne fait allusion à aucune complicité provenant du groupe des neuf, bien que l'enquête ait considéré comme non fiable le témoignage de Jane TV, seul élément en faveur d'un enlèvement.
(3) Dans ce groupe les MC occupent une position marginale. Leurs seuls amis sont les WP, amis des deux autres couples. Si les WP étaient déjà partis en vacances avec les deux autres couples, c'est la première fois que les MC se joignaient à ce groupe.
(4) L'immeuble n'est pas dans l'enceinte dite du Tapas, qui n'est accessible que par un petit bâtiment de réception. Entre l'enceinte et l'immeuble, il y a une allée piétonne flanquée de très hauts murs.
(5) Les trois enfants MC dorment dans la même chambre, sise du côté nord de l'immeuble, donc du côté du parking (et non du côté de l'enceinte Tapas).
(6) Est décrit ici ce que Kate MC dit avoir vu dans la première narration, pas dans les suivantes. On ne peut pas dire que les "4 couples" ont cherché dans toutes les directions. Parmi les 5 femmes, une (Dianne W) est restée à table, une autre (Jane TB) était dans son appartement auprès de sa fille malade et une autre encore (Rachael MO) a immédiatement regagné son appartement. Kate MC est restée dans son appartement, la seule à avoir cherché est Fiona WP. Quant aux hommes, Matthew MO est parti vers la réception principale, David WP vers le restaurant où ils avaient dîné le premier soir avec leurs enfants et Russell TB a parcouru les abords de l'immeuble. On ne sait pas où est allé Gerald MC entre 22h et 22h10.
(7) Tout faux ! La famille irlandaise (9 personnes) qui a croisé un peu après 22h un homme portant une enfant très semblable à Madeleine ne s'est manifestée que 15 jours plus tard, probablement parce que l'homme qu'ils avaient croisé avait l'air d'un père emportant son enfant endormie et non un ravisseur. La confusion vient probablement du fait qu'il y a eu deux porteurs d'enfants (voir note 8).
(8) Un seul élément donne corps à la théorie de l'enlèvement (le porteur d'enfant aperçu par Jane TB vers 21h15), qui est en fait la théorie par défaut, car l'enfant a bel et bien disparu sans laisser de trace.
(9) En réalité, c'est un membre du groupe, Matthew MO, qui a confirmé que les persiennes étaient fermées vers 21h. Les persiennes des chambres nord de tous les appartements étaient fermées jour et nuit.
(10) Selon les gendarmes et la police scientifique (photos).
(11) Aucune déclaration d'incompatibilité ne corrobore cette insinuation. Il suffit peut-être d'imaginer que les policiers d'un petit pays peuvent se sentir intimidés par les policiers d'une grande puissance lorsque la victime du crime sur lequel ils enquêtent est citoyenne de cette grande puissance.
(12) Totalement faux. Les autorités n'ont cessé de dire, jusqu'à la fin de l'enquête, qu'aucune piste n'était écartée.
(13) Les analyses ne sont pas concluantes, plusieurs personnes ont contribué à l'ADN détecté en quantité plus qu'infime.
(14) Les médias n'ont pas rendu la vie facile aux MC lorsque des incongruences ont commencé à surgir et surtout après l'arrivée des chiens CSI et HRD, lorsqu'ils ont compris que la PJ ne recherchait plus seulement une Madeleine vivante. Quand les MC furent constitués arguidos, les médias se permirent de ne pas respecter la présomption d'innocence. Toutefois une batterie d'avocats haut de gamme mit fin aux impertinences médiatiques. Du coup c'est contre la police, les autorités, le peuple portugais que les médias se déchaînèrent. Les MC ne bronchèrent pas, bien que le respect de la police du pays souverain pour résoudre la disparition de leur enfant fut de leur intérêt.
(15) Non, les résultats du FSS de Birmingham qui arrivèrent ensuite étaient aussi non concluants que les premiers. L'idée de complot vaut ce que l'on sait. Des échantillons ont été détruits, certes, mais c'est la norme s'agissant de résidus biologiques. La PJ avait toutefois une quinzaine de jours pour mettre un véto à cette destruction.
(16) Gonçalo Amaral a peut-être dit tout haut ce que tout le monde pensait tout bas (les MC, pourtant arguidos, se servaient des policiers britanniques, ceux-ci étant du reste rentrés au Royaume-Uni dès que les MC eurent plié bagage), mais qui n'était pas bon à dire. Rien n'indique que l'idée était de l'écarter et le motif un pur prétexte. Rien n'indique que sa perspicacité ait été jugée inquiétante... Rien, dans l'enquête, ne permet d'imaginer qu'il n'ait pas été politiquement correct. Gonçalo Amaral ne fut pas "vidé", on lui confia des affaires plus appropriées à son domaine de compétence.
(17) On pense à Epictète et aux signes auxquels il reconnaît l'homme en progrès : il ne blâme personne, ne loue personne, ne reproche rien à personne, n’accuse personne ; il ne dit jamais rien qui tende à faire croire qu’il sait quelque chose ou qu’il est quelqu’un. En cas d’échec ou d’obstacle, il ne s’en prend qu’à soi-même.
Gonçalo Amaral n'explique aucunement, dans son livre, pourquoi les MC auraient travesti un accident fatal en enlèvement.
(18) Il est parfaitement exact que l'équipe chargée d'enquêter sur la disparition de Madeleine MC a été odieusement vilipendée, insultée et traînée dans la boue par les (nombreux) tabloïds britanniques. Encore une fois il est curieux que les MC n'aient pas songé que cracher sur la PJ était contraproductif.
(19) Le porte-parole des MC qui a laissé sciemment ou non les médias s'enferrer dans le dénigrement de la PJ est Clarence Mitchell, dépêché à PDL par le gouvernement alors qu'il dirigeait l'observatoire des médias. Plus tard les MC l'engagèrent comme docteur folimage et il renonça à son poste officiel. GA a raison de distinguer les relations des POJ portugais et britanniques, qui furent dans l'ensemble productives.
(20) Comme ex-commissaire de la PJ, Georges Moréas s'étonne que la piste de l'enlèvement ait été d'emblée privilégiée, au détriment de l'accident, de l'homicide.
GA répond que ce fut la plus grande erreur de l'enquête. Mais... ce n'est pas sa faute... La hiérarchie est responsable.. "On" avait peur de la réaction des parents s'ils apprenaient qu'ils étaient suspects... donc on a fait leurs quatre volontés, autrement dit on a suivi la piste de l'enlèvement en se disant que si elle n'aboutissait à rien on reviendrait en arrière. Cette méthode, ou plutôt l'absence de méthode, est surtout efficace pour tailler les verges avec lesquelles on sera fouetté. À qui incombait-il de surveiller le travail des policiers envoyés sur le terrain ? GA admet cependant qu'il y a eu là une faille de la PJ qui ne devrait plus se reproduire, eu égard aux critères internationaux.
(21) Le chien EVRD (Eddie) a détecté une odeur de cadavre, il est possible, mais pas certain, que cette odeur résiduelle provienne de Madeleine puisqu'après tout l'appartement est le dernier endroit où on l'ait vue vivante. La chienne CSI (Keela) n'alerte que lorsqu'elle détecte du sang, invisible ou non. Même si les analyses avaient montré que le sang détecté était celui de Madeleine, aurait-ce été suffisant pour en déduire qu'elle était morte ? On peut mourir sans que le sang coule et on peut perdre du sang sans mourir.
Tout au plus, les alertes des chiens constituent une présomption. En aucun cas une preuve.
(22) Georges Moréas demande si la police judiciaire est indépendante par rapport au pouvoir politique et à l'administration en général. GA répond qu'il n'y a pas d'indépendance et que c'est ce qui l'a amené à quitter la police. Ah... on croyait qu'il était parti pour écrire un livre dans lequel il dirait ce qu'il pense, mais dans son livre il n'est pas question de l'indépendance de la police judiciaire portugaise...
(23) Il est possible qu'on ait suggéré à Gonçalo Amaral de ne pas faire d'excès de zèle en tranchant dans le vif sans pondération (voir note 21), de ne pas confondre opiniâtreté et acharnement, constance et idée fixe, ténacité et entêtement. Eût-il su manier la main de fer sous le gant de velours il aurait peut-être traqué la vérité dans ses derniers retranchements. Il n'avait décidément pas le profil de l'emploi, mais cela du moins est une erreur dont il n'est pas responsable.
