I don't think Amaral was equipped to deal with the complexities of a missing child case and I think he was in desperation to have Madeleine's case concluded 'successfully' which he thought would deflect from his forthcoming perjury trial resulting from the torture of Leonor Cipriano.
I think he was the worst possible person to have been appointed as co-ordinator of Madeleine's case ~ he just didn't have the skills base.
AFAIK, he was the only coordinator in Portimão. If so, the alternative would have been to send another one down from Faro... but I suppose the optics wouldn't have been too good just as the Cipriano saga was looming.
I doubt Amaral was involved, but I do sometimes wonder if he was aware of Brückner being a possibility and chose not to investigate him. There are a couple of things I find odd, although I suppose they could be coincidences:
- Despite Brückner's long history of drug-dealing, I can't find any mention of him being arrested for it in the Algarve. Were some officers taking backhanders?
- Brückner could well have been in the vicinity of where Joana disappeared (he certainly was earlier in the year)... and investigating him for Madeleine's disappearance might have brought up Joana's case again.