Portuguese economy minister rules out possibility of resignation

Economy Minister António Costa Silva has denied that he had any contact with the consultant Lacerda Machado and ruled out the possibility of resigning with reference to the investigation that mistook him with former prime minister António Costa, adding that he regrets the impact the case has had on the prime minister.

On Sunday, the public prosecutor’s office in charge of the investigation into former Prime Minister António Costa admitted to a mistake in the transcript of a wiretap that led to his downfall, reportedly confusing his name with that of Economy Minister António Costa Silva, according to one of the lawyers for one of the defendants in the case.

“I’ve been in government for 20 months and I’ve never had any contact with Mr Lacerda Machado,” said António Costa Silva, who was speaking to journalists in Lisbon on Monday on the sidelines of the Web Summit.

At issue is the wiretapping of a phone call between former Start Campus director Afonso Salema and Diogo Lacerda Machado, a consultant for the company, in which the former asks the latter to approach the government to intervene in a change to the economic activity codes for data centres.

“It was Lacerda Machado who signalled to the public prosecutor that there was indeed a mistake and the public prosecutor recognised it,” the lawyer told reporters as he entered the courtroom at the Campus de Justice in Lisbon.

The mayor of Sines, Nuno Mascarenhas, one of the accused in Operation Influencer, said on Tuesday that he was innocent and promised to continue collaborating with justice “throughout the process”.

“These have been very difficult, remarkable days, with an impact on my personal and family life, in which my role was, and could only be, to collaborate with justice,” he said.

Reading a brief statement, accompanied by the other three elected members of the Socialist majority in the municipality, Mascarenhas asserted that he had provided “all the clarifications” the authorities had requested.

“Being innocent, as I am, it was with the serenity possible that I dealt with this whole situation, convinced that I have always guided my conduct as mayor of Sines in pursuit of the public interest inherent in the exercise of the functions for which I was elected,” he said.

According to the mayor, who was detained for six days as part of this judicial investigation into deals related to lithium, green hydrogen and the construction of a data centre, it is up to him to remain reserved since the process “is still ongoing”.

“The truth is that justice has spoken and decided, at this stage, to affirm my innocence,” Nuno Mascarenhas said.

Operation Influencer, which was made public a week ago by the Public Prosecutor’s Office, involved 42 searches and led to the arrest of five people, one of them the mayor of Sines.

The others were the now former chief of staff of the prime minister, Vítor Escária, the consultant Diogo Lacerda Machado who is a friend of the former prime minister, and the directors of the Start Campus company, Afonso Salema and Rui Oliveira Neves.

The five detainees were released on Monday by a decision of the Central Criminal Investigation Court, which only imposed bail of €150,000 and a ban on leaving the country on Diogo Lacerda Machado, the latter of which was also imposed on Vítor Escária.

In turn, the mayor of Sines and the two directors of Start Campus, the company building a data centre in the Alentejo coastal town, were only told to appear regularly at police stations.

The prime minister resigned last Tuesday after learning that his name had been mentioned by those involved in the public prosecutor’s investigation into the lithium, hydrogen and data centre deals in Sines, prompting the country’s president to dissolve parliament and call legislative elections for 10 March.

(Pedro Emídio anda Helga Nobre | Lusa.pt)