Magistrates from the prosecutor’s office argue that PGR is not obliged to provide an explanation about the operation “Influential Man”

The President of the Union of Magistrates of the Ministry of State (SMMP), Adau Carvalho, believes that the Prosecutor General of the Republic (PGR), Lucília Gago, is not obliged to explain the role of the Ministry of State (MP) in Operation Influencer. process.

“It’s not the prosecutor’s office’s job to be in the know, I’m going to provide information. She must say that there is an investigation, what crimes are being investigated and who is being investigated, because there is a social resonance, but it should not continue afterwards, providing information about the process at each stage. This is not what is expected of a person charged with a special duty of restraint and objectivity,” Judge Luse said.

The aftermath of Operation Influential Man, which led to the arrest last week of the former chief of staff of the Prime Minister Vitor Escaria, lawyer and consultant Diogo Lacerda Machado, the mayor of Sines Nuno Mascarenhas and the administrators of the Start Campus company. , Afonso Salema and Rui Oliveira Neves, also led to the resignation of António Costa and the calling of early legislative elections.

However, despite demanding preventive detention for Vitor Escaria and Diogo Lacerda Machado, bail for Start campus administrators, and the suspension of the mayor’s office (among other coercive measures), the deputy saw the Central Criminal Court decide to release all defendants , imposing only a ban on leaving the country for the first two and a bail of 150 thousand euros for a consultant and friend of the Prime Minister.

When asked whether the PGR should take over this process and intervene hierarchically in the investigation, Adan Carvalho understands that such a scenario cannot happen.

“In my view, PGR does not have the authority to initiate this process because our hierarchy – and even because it is an appointment position – ends with the Deputy Attorney General. He is obliged to organize a member of parliament, obviously he can do it. It interferes with the strategy, namely creates investigative teams or asks to speed up the process, but does not dispatch the processes and cannot be called and allow the investigation to be conducted,” he emphasized.

And he added: “As such, he has no authority to determine the steps or handle the process and direct the investigation. This is a competence that belongs to the justices of the peace, who in this aspect have autonomy or independence in accordance with the powers of hierarchical intervention, but it is not the direct intervention of the Attorney General of the Republic.”

The leader of the magistrates’ union also played down the shortcomings that were publicly highlighted in the MP’s indictment in the case, ensuring that if there were any, they would be addressed within the investigation itself and without prejudice to those involved.

According to the MP, Operation Influencer may include crimes related to malfeasance, active and passive corruption of political officials and influence peddling.

In total, there are nine defendants in the investigation into lithium, green hydrogen and Sines data centers, including former infrastructure minister João Galamba, president of the Portuguese Environmental Agency, Nuno Lacasta, lawyer and former PS representative. Joao Tiago Silveira and the Start Campus company.

António Costa became the subject of an investigation in the Supreme Court against a member of parliament after the suspects in the process named him because he intervened with the aim of unblocking procedures in the businesses under investigation, namely the approval of a diploma favorable to the interests of the company Start Campus.