The Public Ministry denied that wiretaps collected as part of Operation Influencer and which included António Costa were omitted, guaranteeing this Friday that all wiretaps “were timely submitted for periodic control to the Investigating Judge of the Central Criminal Investigation Court (TCIC)”. The Attorney General’s Office thus denies the news of the News Diarywhich advanced on Thursday night that would have been omitted 22 communications between Costa and the three main participants in the operation, former ministers João Galamba and João Pedro Matos Fernandes and also Diogo Lacerda Machado.
In a statement, the Public Ministry admits that “mmore recently” seven wiretaps were identified that implicated the former prime minister and which had not been reported to the Supreme Court of Justice (STJ), but six of these wiretaps “are just contact attempts”. THE MP adds that only these taps were not initially identified “for various technical reasons”.
The MP also made a point of remembering that “António Costa was never directly the subject of telephone tapping or surveillance (neither when he was prime minister, nor when he was no longer so)” and that “incidentally, in the context of tapping other people, communications were detected in which the then prime minister António Costa was involved”.
And whenever the wiretaps detected that António Costa was one of the participants, “these communications were brought to the attention of the president of the Supreme Court of Justice (STJ)”.
The authorities also confirm the information given in the DCIAP order on the case, where they mention that the president of the STJ “issued an order that he was no longer competent to provide such knowledge because António Costa is not currently Prime Minister, ordering the file to be returned to the TCIC Judge”.
PS asks the MP’s Superior Council to investigate whether wiretapping “guarantees justice”
Speaking to Expresso, the parliamentary leader of the Socialist Party, who saw his government with an absolute majority fall because of the initial allegations of Operation Influencer, expressed himself “concerned” with the news from Diário de Notícias, considering that “the action of judicial bodies must be particularly careful when it calls into question the functioning of sovereign bodies”. And he recalled that the communication follows other news, such as the Costa’s requests to consult the process in which he is involvedas prolonged listening to João Galamba for four years and the refusal of requests for consultation with judge Ivo Rosawhich should “make us reflect on the functioning of the Public Ministry”.
“We have an added responsibility to ensure that sovereign bodies function and deliver to citizens, not only the living conditions they want, but also that a fundamental pillar of the edifice of Democratic Law works, which is justice. This news perverts the idea that this fundamental pillar works properly, and political leaders must commit to making it work properly”, said Eurico Brilhante Dias, recalling (without pointing to any particular process) the initiative of the PS secretary general to work on justice reform with the Government.
But the PS parliamentary leader warns that any initiative must come from the Superior Council of the Public Ministry, as “nthe political framework” the party must “continue to carry out democratic surveillance” in order to guarantee that “sovereign bodies function to their fullest”. For the deputy, the Attorney General of the Republic “must not only take steps to ensure the proper functioning of the MP, but also the Superior Council of the MP must investigate whether the procedures carried out guarantee justice”.
[Notícia atualizada às 12h31 com declarações de líder parlamentar do PS]