The Public Prosecutor’s Office (MP) believes that the Prime Minister intervened in the approval of a diploma favorable to the interests of the company Start Campus, accused in the investigation that led to the dismissal of António Costa.
According to the indictment, which the Lusa agency had access to on Thursday, The prosecutors allege that contacts with the prime minister by Diogo Lacerda Machado, a lawyer and his friend, and Vítor Escária, now António Costa’s former chief of staff, “were aimed at and achieved” the approval of a diploma “as soon as possible” and with regulations favorable to the interests” of Start Campus, a company associated with the Sines Datacenter project and defendant in the lawsuit.
This concerns a diploma approved by the Council of Ministers in July 2023 and which regulates the auctions for the allocation of grid connection capacity for electricity consumption installations in areas with high demand, the MP said.
According to the order, that diploma resulted in “an express favor” to projects of potential economic interest (PIN), as well as in “the institution of an exceptional procedure” for Sines.
The investigation into the lithium and hydrogen trade, which led to the Prime Minister’s resignation on Tuesday, has nine suspects, five of whom are in custody.
The arrested suspects are Vítor Escária, Diogo Lacerda Machado, Nuno Mascarenhas, mayor of Sines, Afonso Salema and Rui Neves, administrators of the company Start Campus.
In addition to those arrested, the suspects are João Galamba, Minister of Infrastructure, Nuno Lacasta, President of the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA), João Tiago Silveira, lawyer and former PS spokesperson, and the company START — Sines Transatlantic Renewable & Technology Campus SA.
As part of this investigation, António Costa is the target of an independent investigation by the MP at the Supreme Court, after suspects in the case put forward his name for intervening to unblock administrative and legislative procedures related to the projects.
Source: DN
