Five people detained as part of Operation Influencer were released this Monday after being presented for their first judicial interrogation.
Vitor Escaria and Diogo Lacerda Machado, for whom the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) has requested preventive detention, are prohibited from traveling abroad and must surrender their passports to a judicial guard within 24 hours. Lawyer Lacerda Machado will also have to post bail in the amount of 150 thousand euros.
Morais Leitan’s former partner Ruy de Oliveira Neves, former Start Campus CEO Afonso Salema and Sines City Council President Nuno Mascarenhas had to verify their identity and residence.
The company Start Campus, accused in the case, will have to post a bail of 600 thousand euros, an amount that differs significantly from the 19 million requested by the deputy.
The judge excluded the crimes of active and passive corruption that the accused were suspected of, leaving only crimes related to influence peddling and offering undue advantages.
Last Tuesday, a political crisis erupted in Portugal after the revelation of an operation to investigate lithium and hydrogen deals.
The Prime Minister appears to be involved in this process, since the Ministry of Justice at the Supreme Court is conducting an investigation, as a result of which António Costa resigned and called early elections for the President of the Republic for March 10, 2024.
There are nine defendants in total, including Infrastructure Minister João Galamba, Portuguese Environmental Agency President Nuno Lacasta, lawyer and former PS representative João Thiago Silveira and the company Start Campus. There were no arrests in these cases.
Prime Minister António Costa, who is the subject of an investigation by a Supreme Court deputy after being named by suspects as having interfered with unlocking procedures, resigned on Tuesday, while the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, then announced the calling of early legislative elections authorities as of March 10, 2024.
Author: Tanya Laranjo This Deborah Carvalho
Source: CM Jornal
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