On Wednesday, the Board of Directors of Start Campus appointed Robert Dunn as interim director of the company with immediate effect, following the resignation of Afonso Salema and Rui Oliveira Neves, defendants in the influencer operation.
“Robert Dunn brings extensive experience in delivering data center solutions, having previously held relevant roles in this industry,” Start Campus said in a statement.
This appointment follows the resignation of Afonso Salema and Rui Oliveira Neve, who respectively held the positions of executive president and lawyer and administrator, two of the nine suspects in the Public Prosecution Service’s investigation into the lithium, green hydrogen and central data from Sines. .
The company, itself a defendant in the legal proceedings, assured that it “continues to cooperate with the Portuguese authorities and provide all requested information to ensure a full and impartial investigation of all the facts”.
“Start Campus applies the highest standards in all business areas and at every stage of the project in Sines,” the company said in the same note, ensuring it “maintains its commitment to its activities and investments in Portugal.”
In this sense, the company says that it is “taking all necessary measures to ensure the continuity of operations and so that its team, customers and commercial partners continue to receive the same level of high-quality service”.
Start Campus is developing a hyperscale data center, with a capacity of up to 495 megawatts (MW), powered by 100% green energy, in Sines, after recently opening the first of five planned buildings.
According to the statement, both shareholders, Davidson Kempner Capital Management LP and Pioneer Point Partners LLP, are “committed to developing the project, one of the largest data centers in Europe, which will contribute significantly to Portugal’s energy transition, digital transformation and to respond to the growing demand from international technology companies”.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office (MP) arrested five people on November 10: the Prime Minister’s chief of staff, Vítor Escária, the mayor of Sines, Nuno Mascarenhas, two directors of the Start Campus association, Afonso Salema and Rui Oliveira Neves, and a lawyer Diogo Lacerda Machado, a friend of António Costa, who was released at the end of the judicial interrogation.
A total of nine defendants are in the investigation into the lithium, green hydrogen and Sines data center activities, including the Minister of Infrastructure, João Galamba, the president of the Portuguese Environment Agency, Nuno Lacasta, the lawyer and former voice of PS João Tiago Silveira and the company Start Campus.
For the Member of Parliament, the crimes of malfeasance, active and passive corruption of political office holders and the exercise of influence may be at stake.
António Costa is the target of an investigation by the MP at the Supreme Court, after suspects in the lawsuit put forward his name because he intervened to unblock procedures in the companies under investigation, namely in the approval of a diploma beneficial to the interests of the Startcampus company.
Source: DN
