Magalhães e Silva spoke to journalists at the end of his client’s interrogation at the Justice Campus in Lisbon.
When asked whether the interrogation of lawyer Diogo Lacerda Machado had dispelled all doubts, Magalhães e Silva said that it had.
“It satisfied me so much that I did not feel it necessary to ask any questions, there were questions asked by the investigating judge, in the end there was a first statement by Dr. Diogo Lacerda Machado that lasted about an hour and fifteen minutes,” said the lawyer.
Regarding this first statement, he said it was “a statement of his understanding of what the story of the case is”, and then questions were asked by the investigating judge and then by prosecutor Ricardo Lamas.
According to him, everything had been “sufficiently clarified”.
Asked to comment on today’s statements by the Prime Minister, António Costa, Magalhães e Silva declined to comment, saying he had not heard the statement in full.
“I have no comment on that, it is what the Prime Minister understands from the news that has reached him,” he began to say.
“At no point in this entire process regarding the ‘data center’ has Dr. Lacerda Machado invoked, directly or indirectly, the name of the Prime Minister,” the lawyer said.
“Although in a moment of unhappiness I said he was my best friend, the reality is that a prime minister has no friends. And the longer he serves, I must say, the fewer friends he has,” he said. Antonio Costa today.
After this statement was read to him, Magalhães e Silva stated: “Doctor Lacerda Machado would fully endorse what the Prime Minister said.”
The lawyer interpreted António Costa’s statements by stating that the Prime Minister “did not say that they were not friends” and that “the moment of unhappiness is not being friends, but that it was said publicly, with the speculation that this could give rise to “.
“There was an unfortunate moment where he publicly said he was his best friend, but there is nothing Dr. Lacerda Machado couldn’t fully support. Moreover, Dr. Lacerda Machado has exactly the same understanding of this issue as you do. Prime Minister ”, he continued.
In other words, “it would have been worth it if the Prime Minister had not made this reference,” which would have “avoided several situations,” he added.
Furthermore, “he even expressly stated that he had subsequently informed the Prime Minister by telephone while he was there [Lacerda Machado] in Guinea-Bissau: I am very happy that you said that, but realize that at this moment you have taken my identity away from me,” reported Magalhães e Silva.
About his client’s coercive measure, the lawyer said that he did not expect a measure that would restrict freedom, but that the decisions of the investigating judge are “like a marriage”, that is, “a sealed letter”.
Tuesday’s operation by the Public Prosecutor’s Office was based on at least 42 searches and led to the arrest of five people for questioning: the Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff, Vítor Escária, the President of the Chamber of Sines, Nuno Mascarenhas, two administrators of the Start Campus Society, Afonso Salema and Rui Oliveira Neves, and lawyer Diogo Lacerda Machado, a friend of António Costa.
In total, there are nine suspects in the case, including the Minister of Infrastructure João Galamba, the president of the Portuguese Environment Agency Nuno Lacasta, the lawyer and former PS spokesperson João Tiago Silveira and the company Start Campus.
According to the Public Prosecution Service (MP), crimes, active and passive corruption of political office holders and the exercise of influence may be at stake in the investigation into the lithium, green hydrogen and Sines data center activities.
The process focuses on the Montalegre and Boticas lithium exploration concessions, both in Vila Real; a hydrogen energy production project in Sines, Setúbal, and the construction project of a data center in the industrial and logistics zone of Sines by the company Start Campus.
António Costa is the target of an investigation by the Public Prosecutor’s Office (MP) at the Supreme Court, after suspects put forward his name for intervening to unblock procedures in the companies under investigation.
According to the indictment, the MP is of the opinion that the Prime Minister intervened in the approval of a diploma that was beneficial to the interests of the Start Campus company.
Source: DN
