Five people detained as part of the investigation into the lithium and green hydrogen business will remain at the Lisbon Metropolitan Command (Cometlis) of the PSP in Moscavid until they are heard at the first judicial interrogation, a police source told Lusa on Tuesday.
The prime minister’s chief of staff, Vitor Escaria, Sines mayor Nuno Mascarenhas, two Start Campus administrators and a consultant were arrested on Tuesday as part of an investigation into a lithium and green hydrogen business.
The Prosecutor General’s Office believes that there is “a danger of escape, continuation of criminal activity, disruption of the investigation and violation of public order and tranquility.”
Although not all those detained have been identified, some media have already indicated that the consultant is Diogo Lacerda Machado, a lawyer and businessman close to the Prime Minister, and that the administrators of the Start Campus de Sines company will be Afonso Salema and Rui Oliveira Neves. .
The detainees will remain in Kometlis until they are summoned for the first judicial interrogation for the purpose of applying coercive measures.
The case has already prompted Prime Minister António Costa to announce his resignation to the President of the Republic, accepted by Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, after prosecutors reported that he was the subject of an independent investigation by the Supreme Court. for lithium and hydrogen.
The president convened the parties for a round of hearings at the Belem Palace in Lisbon on Wednesday and will meet with the Council of State on Thursday.
In a statement at the Palácio de São Bento, António Costa refused to commit “any illegal or objectionable act” and expressed his full readiness to cooperate with justice “in whatever he deems necessary.”