By: CECÍLIA PIRES and MIKE ALMOND
CONTROVERSY HAUNTS the reputation of the police investigator who was dismissed this week from the Madeleine Case investigation.
In 2004, when Gonçalo Amaral was heading the criminal investigation into the case of another missing child, Joana Cipriano, the PJ agent was accused by the child’s mother of not reporting the torture she allegedly suffered in the hands of four other investigators while she was in preventive prison.
The accusations were brought against the inspector after the investigation of the Joana case was closed, but Gonçalo Amaral has never been accused or suspended from his post.
The mother, Leonor Cipriano, was eventually convicted of murdering and concealing her daughter’s body, which mirrors the reasoning behind Gerry and Kate McCann’s arguido status.
Gonçalo Amaral, the police coordinator leading the investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, was removed from his position in a move that was not totally unexpected. The decision was made by the national office of the PJ after he made several controversial statements on the Madeleine case earlier this week.
Amaral, who has headed the investigation since the early days and who was also the head of the Portimão Office of the Polícia Judiciária (PJ) was relieved of his duties by a direct order from Alípio Ribeiro, the national chief of the PJ.
He confirmed the decision when leaving an international conference entitled War, Women and Rights, held on Tuesday afternoon in Lisbon.
Questioned by the journalists, Ribeiro said: “I ordered the end of Gonçalo Amaral’s service in Portimão and it seems to me that the reason why I gave that order is obvious.”
Alípio Ribeiro refused to make any further comments on the case or accept allegations of political pressure. However, Portugal Justice Minister, Alberto Costa, also speaking on Tuesday, had to step in publicly to assure all parties that the relationship between the Portuguese and British police forces working on the Madeleine McCann case was still strong and of “beneficial co-operation”.
Alberto Costa claimed that “it is important that all teams are focused on the investigation work and not on the comments” and was reacting to comments made by Gonçalo Amaral to a daily newspaper where he criticised British police action. Gonçalo Amaral, who has said he thought his statements were being made “off the record”, had accused British police of “working exclusively on the information wanted by the McCanns and that suits them better.”
He was commenting on reports in the British media on Monday about an anonymous email sent to the official website of Prince Charles.
The email accused a former employee of the Ocean Club of being responsible for the abduction of Madeleine McCann in a revenge action to destroy the resort’s credibility. But the PJ investigator said this information “had no credibility for the Portuguese police” and therefore “it was completely excluded” from the investigation.
Gonçalo Amaral also said that by following the couple’s tips, the British investigators were continuously “forgetting the fact that they are prime suspects of their daughter’s death,” adding that the kidnapping scenario now being explored was nothing more than “another fact worked by the McCanns”.
Joining Gonçalo Amaral in making critical comments this week was Carlos Anjos, the president of ASFIC, the national union of the criminal investigators.
Also interviewed by Diário de Notícias, he accused Gerry McCann of “negligence” when he claimed that Madeleine’s abductor was hiding in their holiday apartment.
“If he was suspicious that there was a man in the apartment, and then he calmly went to dinner, then words cannot describe how negligent he is as a father”, Carlos Anjos said,
 The president of the national union of criminal investigators accused Gerry McCann of negligence when he claimed that Madeleine’s abductor was hiding in their holiday apartment. Photo: SUPPLIED |
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adding: “Since their daughter disappeared, Gerry and Kate have followed a strategy of almost daily announcements of new facts.”
In response, Clarence Mitchell, the McCann’s spokesman, said Gerry McCann’s fears came to him only after Madeleine’s abduction and Mr Anjos had “totally misunderstood” what he said. He told the UK’s Daily Telegraph: “This was in the original witness statement. There is nothing that has come out recently that should be of surprise to the officers.”
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