Portuguese former PM returns to court for investigation for alleged tax fraud charges: media LISBON, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) -- Portuguese former Prime Minister Jose Socrates returned to Lisbon's campus of justice on Sunday for his second day of interrogation, in an investigation for alleged corruption, money-laundering and tax fraud, according to local media reports. The former Socialist leader Socrates was arrested on a flight back to Lisbon from Paris late Friday night and was taken straight to a custody judge. Socrates went to the Court of Criminal Justice in Lisbon on Saturday evening and stayed there for five hours. The arrest of Socrates came after an ongoing gold visa scandal emerged last week, which led to the arrest of several senior officials. The 57-year-old former prime minister governed from 2005 to 2011 and helped negotiate the 78-billion-euro bailout the country signed in May 2011 with its international lenders -- the European Commission, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank. Socrates has been blamed for plunging the country into a financial crisis by the opposition, leaving Portugal with no other option than seeking a bailout. He moved to Paris in 2011 when he lost the elections, and went on to study Philosophy at Sciences Po university. The government's credibility under Socrates was tainted especially in 2012 when officials linked to him were charged with graft, money-laundering and influence peddling, in a case known as the Hidden Face scandal. Prosecutors also tried to reopen a case involving Socrates known as the 2002 Freeport scandal in 2011, for allegedly accepting bribes, together with two plaintiffs for the construction of a shopping mall on the outskirts of Lisbon.