Last Tuesday, the President of the Assembly of the Republic accused the Attorney General of the Republic of having “an undemocratic culture”.
In an interview in the program “Não Podias”, op Antenna 3and with the motto “you couldn’t disagree” – a series dedicated to the 50th anniversary of April 25 -, Augusto Santos Silva criticized the Public Prosecutor’s approach to “certain processes”.
“The issue of disagreement and freedom of disagreement is a very current issue. And I’ll give a very current example, controversial enough to be very current. In recent days, several people, including myself, have disagreed with the way the Ministry publicly intervened in relation to certain processes. It doesn’t matter what the processes are. The response from the highest authority of the Public Prosecution Service was that they are attacking the Public Prosecution Service. This is an undemocratic culture,” said the leader of the Socialist Party. Party, in an allusion to Lucília Gago’s positions regarding the Influencer operation, which prompted António Costa to resign as Prime Minister.
Santos Silva argued that “more democracy is needed, and disagrees more” with the prosecutor’s options.
Operation Influencer, which resulted in the arrest of five people and the resignation of Prime Minister António Costa on November 7, was coordinated by the Central Department of Investigation and Criminal Action (DCIAP) and initially had the support of the PSP and AT, but not of the judicial police.
The operation led to the arrest of António Costa’s chief of staff, Vítor Escária, lawyer Diogo Lacerda Machado, administrators of the company Start Campus Afonso Salema and Rui Oliveira Neves, and the mayor of Sines, Nuno Mascarenhas.
In addition, there are four other suspects in the case, including the now former Minister of Infrastructure João Galamba, the president of the Portuguese Environment Agency, Nuno Lacasta, the lawyer, former Secretary of State for Justice and former PS spokesperson João Tiago. Silveira and the company Start Campus.
The process is related to the exploration of lithium in Montalegre and Boticas (both districts of Vila Real), to the production of energy from hydrogen in Sines, Setúbal, and to the project to build a data center (Data Center) in the industrial and logistics zone of Sines by the company Start Campus.
The Prime Minister, António Costa, who seemed to be involved in this case, was the target of an investigation opened at the MP of the Supreme Court, a situation that led him to resign, with the President of the Republic planning early elections . March 10, 2024.
Augusto Santos Silva has criticized the performance of the Public Prosecutor’s Office and the Public Prosecution Service in managing the trial.
Source: DN
