The Union of Magistrates argues that a deputy cannot be assessed on the basis of a decision

The President of the Union of Prosecutors (SMMP) said this Wednesday that the judicial system cannot be assessed on the basis of a single process, after the Lisbon Court once again rejected the thesis of the Operation Influencer prosecutors.

Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the conference “The path of justice and its human resources”, organized by the Union of Judicial Officials (SFJ) in Lisbon, Paulo Lona noted that “the work of the Ministry of State (MP) must be assessed on a global scale” and that even in relation to this particular It is too early to analyze the process.

“This is just one decision in a specific process out of thousands of decisions; we cannot assess the work of either the MP or the Prosecutor General’s Office on the basis of one, two or three specific processes. This assessment must be made on the basis of the global work that the deputy is carrying out and which is not limited to the criminal sphere, I understand that there must be critical thinking, the deputy must think about the processes, but such an assessment will be made at a later stage.” he decreed.

Regarding the decision of the Lisbon Court of Appeal this Wednesday, which rejected the deputy’s appeal, reduced the coercive measures of the accused to the conditions of person and residence and realized that there were no signs of crimes, Paulo Lona emphasized that this is only in question. a January ruling by the Central Criminal Court on coercive measures and not determining the future of the case.

“The process will continue in accordance with its terms, the investigation will continue, and the people’s deputy, as part of his activities, in order to protect the rule of law and public interests, will assess, taking into account these facts, whether they are sufficient to accuse someone of committing If there are enough of them, he will bring charges; if there are not enough of them, he will not bring charges,” he concluded.

The work of the previous legislature was interrupted by the dismissal of António Costa as prime minister after it was revealed that he was the subject of an investigation launched into the parliament by the Supreme Court after a certificate was extracted from a criminal case. Operation Influential Man.

The President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, accepted the resignation and two days later announced to the country the dissolution of parliament and the calling of elections, which took place on March 10, giving the majority to the Democratic Alliance coalition, which brings together PSD, CDS-PP and /PPM.

Operation Influential Man at the time led to the arrest of Vitor Escaria (Chief of Staff to António Costa), Diogo Lacerda Machado (consultant and friend of António Costa), Start Campus administrators Afonso Salema and Rui Oliveira Neves, as well as Chamber of Sines President Nuno Mascarenhas, who were released after judicial questioning.

There are other defendants, including the now former Minister of Infrastructure João Galamba, the former President of the Portuguese Environmental Agency Nuno Lacasta, the former PS representative João Thiago Silveira and Start Campus.

The case relates to a data center project in the industrial and logistics area of ​​Sines near the Start Campus, the production of energy from hydrogen in Sines and lithium exploration in the Vila Real area, in Montalegre and Botica.