The prosecutor general of the republic said that she does not feel responsible for the fall of the government

The Republic’s prosecutor general told reporters this Thursday that she does not feel responsible for the fall of the government or the resignation of Prime Minister António Costa. Lucília Gago emphasized that she was appointed by the President of the Republic and intends to present all the results of the investigation that led the country to a political crisis.

“I don’t feel responsible for anything. The General Prosecutor’s Office, the prosecutor’s office, having learned about the commission of actions, investigates what it should investigate. What follows from the law, then it should investigate,” he said, on the sidelines of a conference on domestic violence at the Judicial Police Headquarters.

On November 7, António Costa resigned after the Ministry of Justice reported that the prime minister was the subject of a Supreme Court investigation as part of Operation Influencer. The President of the Republic heard the Council of State and scheduled early legislative elections for March 10.

Lucília Gago wrote a paragraph blaming the head of government for the investigation. According to the prosecutor general of the republic, this excerpt should have been included in the report.

“This paragraph is a paragraph that speaks transparently about what was at stake in the context of the ongoing investigation. There is a need for transparency, for information about the ongoing investigation, and therefore it should naturally be placed in the section “It is a pity that “Without being included in the statement, it can be said that the most relevant segment has been unduly hidden,” he said.

He also added that the inclusion of this paragraph in the statement “was not in defense of the prosecutor’s office, but in defense of the transparency that the prosecutor’s office should provide.”

Without directly confirming the authorship of this paragraph, Lucilia Gago emphasized, however, that very close monitoring was carried out during the preparation of the November 7 statement.

“Press releases are always processed by the press service, as was the case with more delicate, more sensitive situations, their writing is monitored very closely because of their public impact,” he emphasized.

On November 7, the deputy detained five people: the chief of staff of Prime Minister Vitor Escaria, the mayor of Sines Nuno Mascarenhas, two administrators of the Start Campus society Afonso Salema and Rui Oliveira Neves, as well as lawyer Diogo Lacerda Machado. , a friend of Antonio Costa, who was released after the judicial interrogation.

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

For an MP, crimes such as malfeasance, active and passive corruption of political officials, and influence peddling may be at stake.