António Costa’s defense criticized this Sunday, November 9, the statements made by the Attorney General of the Republic, regarding the Operation Influencer case, which led to the dismissal of the former Prime Minister, considering them “unclear”.
“Having been confronted with the explanations given by the Attorney General of the Republic regarding the process in which my constituent [António Costa] was heard in May 2024, I cannot help but consider them unclear”lawyer João Lima Cluny told Lusa, adding that he was unaware of any appeal that would prevent the investigation from being completed.
Two years after the searches carried out as part of Operation Influencer, Amadeu Guerra explained on Friday that “there is an appeal filed by the defendants regarding the email”, with the Public Prosecutor’s Office dependent on “the appeal in the Court of Appeal, which is being assessed”.
“E-mail was seized during the process, the defendants filed an appeal. Until we have access to the information in the ’emails’, we cannot move forward”added Amadeu Guerra on the sidelines of a meeting of the Victim Support Offices, which took place at the Attorney General’s Office.
In the same statements, Amadeu Guerra also made a mistake regarding the name of António Costa, which he quickly corrected, saying that “the Influencer process is not just the process of former prime minister António Sócrates”.
In relation to these statements, António Costa’s lawyer considered the error by the Attorney General of the Republic an “unfortunate lapse” and clarified that the process in which the former prime minister made statements does not depend on the decision of the Lisbon Court of Appeal, since it is a certificate extracted from the Operation Influencer process.
“The truth is that, in the process in which he made statements, we are not aware of the constitution of any defendant, nor, naturally, of any resource that would prevent the conclusion of the investigation”, added António Costa’s defense.
On November 7, 2023, five people were detained and later released as part of Operation Influencer, including António Costa’s chief of staff, Vítor Escária.
At issue are suspected crimes in the construction of a data center in Sines, district of Setúbal, in the exploration of lithium in Montalegre and Boticas, both in the district of Vila Real, and in the production of energy from hydrogen also in Sines.
The case led to the fall of the Government of António Costa (PS), with the now president of the European Council being considered a suspect, without being charged.