Lawyer Diogo Lacerda Machado, retained as part of the investigation that led to António Costa’s dismissal, was hired by Star Campus to “take advantage of his friendly relationship with the Prime Minister” and “proximity” with Vítor Escária.
The information is included in the operation’s search records cited by Expresso today.
The documents show suspicious meetings between lawyer Lacerda Machado and the prime minister’s chief of staff, Vítor Escária.
According to documents accessed by the Expresso newspaper, these meetings took place at the Prime Minister’s official residence, in São Bento, and also in an office used by Vítor Escária at the Socialist Party (PS) headquarters in Lisbon.
Meetings could be scheduled at Start Campus’s office, the company explored in this green hydrogen and lithium business case, and could take place during “private lunches and dinners” with the meals sometimes reaching a “not insignificant value.”
According to the team of prosecutors from the Central Investigation and Criminal Justice Department (DCIAP), “the Minister of Infrastructure, João Galamba, and the President of the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA), Nuno Lacasta, had lunch and dinner without paying anything. “.
The prosecutors, cited in Expresso, indicate that lawyer Diogo Lacerda Machado was hired by Start Campus investors and then directly by this company, through Afonso Salema, one of the administrators.
According to prosecutors, the aim was to “take advantage of his close friendship with the Prime Minister” as well as his “close” relationship with Vítor Escária.
The lawyer would also use this proximity to pressure other members of the government, through Escária, and entities such as the Institute for Conservation and Nature and Forests (ICNF) or the President of the Chamber of Sines, Nuno Mascarenhas, to “ for faster progress and more favorable for matters that are important to Start Campus.
The search documents also state that João Galamba used two drivers who served in his office as Secretary of State for Energy and Environment to conduct trips solely for his “personal gain.”
According to the Public Prosecution Service (MP), the minister “has interfered in virtually all matters under investigation”, from the facts related to the Romano mine to the Start Camps data center project, a project worth 500 million euros, but “in view of” that is rapidly increasing up to 2 billion euros.
The MP indicates that João Galamba is also suspected of helping to convince the municipality of Boticas not to oppose lithium exploration, by financing the municipality with a road worth 20 million euros, an agreement that would from the President of the APA”.
The Prime Minister, António Costa, asked the President of the Republic for his resignation on Tuesday, who accepted it, after the Public Prosecutor’s Office revealed that he target of autonomous Supreme Court investigation into lithium and hydrogen projects.
This decision follows an operation on lithium and green hydrogen companies, coordinated by DCIAP and supported by the Public Security Police (PSP) and the Tax Authorities (AT).
As part of this operation, the Prime Minister’s chief of staff, Vítor Escária, the lawyer Lacerda Machado, the mayor of Sines, Nuno Mascarenhas and the two directors of the company Start Campus, Afonso Salema and Rui Oliveira Neves, were arrested.
The MP also named Minister João Galamba and the chairman of the APA board of directors, Nuno Lacasta, as suspects.
According to the Public Prosecution Service (PGR), this involves crimes, active and passive corruption of political office holders and the exercise of influence.
Source: DN
