" Portugal's top lawyer yesterday poured scorn on Scotland Yard’s investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.
Attorney General Joana Marques Vidal said officers from London had no right to operate in Portugal and cannot question, interview or arrest anyone.
Her comments are in stark contrast to the Metropolitan Police’s upbeat announcement on Thursday of ‘genuinely new’ [NOTICE THE BRACKETS!] leads in the six-year-old case and that arrests could be made within weeks.
Detectives say they are preparing to swoop on 38 suspects – including 12 Britons – in Portugal and other parts of Europe.
Scotland Yard says it has asked the Crown Prosecution Service to submit an International Letter of Request to enable a team of officers to pursue inquiries in Portugal.
But Mrs Marques Vidal said she has received no British request for mutual legal assistance in an inquiry into the disappearance of Madeleine – meaning the Met has no right to pursue inquiries.
Her spokesman said: ‘We have not received any request for mutual assistance with regard to the Madeleine McCann case.
He added that even if British police are allowed to travel to Portugal to ‘help the sovereign authorities’ carry out the ‘request for mutual assistance’, Met officers ‘cannot conduct any interviews or any other action in Portugal’.
Meanwhile Portugal’s detective unit, the Policia Judiciaria, said its officers would assist the British inquiry, but added they would effectively work to rule – only carrying out their duties to the letter of the law.
Pedro do Carmo, deputy national director of the unit, told the Daily Mail: ‘We are available to co-operate with the British authorities but only under terms of Portuguese law and within the time period allowed under Portuguese law.’
Portuguese detectives have condemned any deal between London and Lisbon as ‘political b*******’.
One said: ‘British police may be allowed to sit in on the interviews, with the prosecutor’s agreement, but they must not interfere or ask questions themselves. And if this deal does exist politics should not be allowed to interfere with justice. That is b*******.’
(is the b***... Bullshit? Bollocks? Bastardise? Take your pick - but a clue would have been "helpful" ;) - Well said anyway. They show that it's not just Kate "McCann" who is allowed to be RUDE at times.)
Three-year-old Madeleine vanished from an apartment in the resort of Praia da Luz on May 3, 2007, while her parents, Kate and Gerry, were having dinner at a restaurant nearby with friends.
The shambolic inquiry into her whereabouts was shelved in 2008 and Portuguese authorities have refused to re-open the case, saying there is no new evidence.
Scotland Yard began their own Home Office-funded review in 2011, going over files compiled by the Portuguese authorities and private detectives hired by Mr and Mrs McCann.
Met Police teams have travelled to Portugal 16 times to share their findings with Portuguese detectives, and lawyers from the CPS visited Lisbon last month to discuss the case.
On the case: Scotland Yard has launched its own inquiry (YES WE KNOW and this is OLD news!)
Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood, who is leading the inquiry, has said he believes there is a possibility that Madeleine is alive.
David Cameron yesterday welcomed the announcement that the Met had launched their own inquiry. He said: ‘It is welcome because they say that there is new evidence, new leads to follow, new things to be done.
‘It was a case that did shock and still shocks the nation and if an answer can be found we should try to find it.’ " (Well you'd have to try harder than this, I'm afraid, and start looking at the truth in the face! Why don't you ask the Portuguese Authorities for a Trial instead of wanting to poke your nose where it's not wanted and rule at the expense of the justice? This way you'd all get a lot closer to the truth! But as this Blog Post says (Cristobell), "There are still millions to be earned from the Madeleine McCann name. ")
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2357144/Madeleine-McCann-Why-SHOULD-help-missing-Maddie-ask-Portugals-police-chiefs.html#ixzz2YIpeWtKo
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