A Lisbon judge yesterday ordered that the five people arrested last week in the so-called Influencer operation for alleged corruption and influence peddling, including the former chief of staff of the resigned prime minister, António Costa, be released.
All remain suspects in the investigation into alleged illegalities in the government's management of lithium mining and green hydrogen production projects, as well as a large-scale data center in Sines (Setúbal). The investigation has led to the resignation of Prime Minister António Costa – who is the subject of an investigation by the Supreme Court – and the calling of early legislative elections for March 10, as announced by the President of Portugal, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa. The current Portuguese Government will remain in office for at least four months, until a new one takes office in April 2024.
Vítor Escária, former chief of staff of the acting prime minister – since António Costa dismissed him days after resigning himself – and Diogo Lacerda Machado, an old friend of Costa and consultant for the company Start Campus, were released by Judge Nuno Dias Costa, both in exchange for handing over their passport and, in the case of Lacerda, with the payment of a bond of 150,000 euros. Escária and Lacerda were accused of embezzlement and influence peddling, and the second is suspected – along with the general director of Start Campus and his deputy, Afonso Salema and Rui Oliveira Neves – of corrupting the mayor of Sines, Nuno Mascarenhas, who was also arrested on suspicion of corruption and embezzlement on November 7, the same as the rest. Start Campus must pay 600,000 euros.
In Escária's case, the judge would have dismissed two accusations of embezzlement, leaving only that of influence peddling, Expresso noted.
The case charges João Galamba, Minister of Infrastructure, who resigned yesterday; João Tiago Silveira, lawyer and former spokesperson for the PS, and Nuno Lacasta, president of the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA).
