EPA President guarantees compliance with the law

The president of Portugal’s Environmental Protection Agency (APA) insists that he has always respected the law and the public interest after being named as a defendant in Operation Influential Man last week, and also admits that he is not aware of the prosecutor’s suspicions. Office (MP).

“All actions carried out throughout my career have always been carried out in accordance with the law and in compliance with strict public interests and legal criteria,” says Nuno Lacasta in a note sent to Lusa, in which he emphasizes that he also recognizes this. behavior of other APA employees.

Nuno Lacasta also emphasizes his desire to provide clarification on this process, which is linked to the exploration of lithium in Montalegre and Boticas (both areas of Vila Real), to the production of energy from hydrogen in Sines, Setubal, as well as to the project to build a data center in the industrial -logistics zone Sines by Start Campus.

“I have already asked for statements to clarify not only any suspicions that may exist on the part of the investigation regarding any of my interventions (and which I still need to report), but also all processes and procedures. environmental nature that are being investigated in these files, and that the investigation did not have the opportunity to know before determining the operation carried out on November 7,” he states.

In a conversation with Lusa, APA President’s lawyer Paulo Zaragoza da Matta refused to comment on the process for now.

This investigation became public following an operation carried out by the MP last Tuesday, which involved more than 40 searches and led to the arrest of five people: the now former chief of staff to the Prime Minister, Victor Escaria; consultant Diogo Lacerda Machado, friend of Antonio Costa; Mayor of Sines, Nuno Mascarenhas; and Start Campus administrators Afonso Salema and Rui Oliveira Neves.

The five detainees were released on Monday by a decision of the Central Criminal Court, which applied only a bail of 150 thousand euros and a ban on leaving the country for Diogo Lacerda Machado, with this latter coercive measure also applied. o Vitor Escaria. In turn, the mayor and two administrators were left with only a form of identification and residence.

There are nine defendants in total, including Infrastructure Minister João Galamba, who resigned this Monday; lawyer, former Minister of Justice and former PS representative João Thiago Silveira; and the company Start Campus (for which a deposit of 600 thousand euros was also paid).

Prime Minister António Costa, who was implicated in this case, was the subject of an investigation by a deputy of the Supreme Court, a situation that led to his resignation and the President of the Republic calling early elections for March 10, 2024.