Lawyer Diogo Lacerda Machado, detained as part of the investigation that led to the dismissal of António Costa, was hired by Star Campus to “take advantage of his friendly relationship with the Prime Minister” and “closeness” with Vitor Escaria.
The information is contained in the search records of the operation, which were published this Wednesday by Expresso.
The records indicate the existence of suspicious meetings between lawyer Lacerda Machado and the Prime Minister’s chief of staff, Vitor Escaria.
According to documents accessed by Expresso, these meetings took place at the prime minister’s official residence in São Bento, as well as at Vitor Escaria’s office at the headquarters of the Socialist Party (PS) in Lisbon.
Meetings could be scheduled at the offices of Start Campus, a company investigating a business case for green hydrogen and lithium, and held in the form of “private lunches and dinners,” where in some cases the cost of food reached “quite an expense.”
According to the group of prosecutors of the Central Department of Investigation and Criminal Prosecutions (DCIAP), “Infrastructure Minister João Galamba and the President of the Portuguese Environmental Protection Agency (APA) Nuno Lacasta had lunch and dinner without paying anything. “.
Prosecutors quoted in Expresso indicate that lawyer Diogo Lacerda Machado was hired by Start Campus investors and then directly by the company, through Afonso Salema, one of the administrators.
According to prosecutors, the goal was to “take advantage of his close friendship with the prime minister” as well as his “close” relationship with Vitor Escaria.
The lawyer will also use this proximity to put pressure on other members of the government through Escaria, as well as on organizations such as the Institute for Conservation, Nature and Forests (ICNF) or the president of the Chamber of Sines, Nuno Mascarenhas, to “check for faster progress and favorable attitudes towards issues of interest to Start Campus.
The search documents also indicate that João Galamba used two drivers who worked in his office as Secretary of State for Energy and Environment to make trips solely for his “personal gain.”
According to the Ministry of Public Affairs (MP), the minister has “intervened in almost all matters under investigation”, from the facts surrounding the Romano mine to the Start Camps data center project, a project worth 500 million euros, but he is “expected” to quickly will rise to 2 billion euros.
The deputy points out that João Galamba is also “suspected of having helped persuade the municipality of Boticas not to oppose lithium exploration by financing the municipality to build a road worth 20 million euros, an agreement that involved the cooperation of the APA president.”
Prime Minister Antonio Costa on Tuesday asked the President of the Republic to resign, which he accepted after the State Ministry said he was the subject of an independent Supreme Court investigation into the lithium and hydrogen projects.
The decision follows an operation against lithium and green hydrogen production facilities coordinated by DCIAP and supported by the Public Security Police (PSP) and the Tax Administration (AT).
As part of this operation, the chief of staff of the Prime Minister, Vitor Escaria, lawyer Lacerda Machado, the mayor of Sines, Nuno Mascarenhas, and two administrators of the Start Campus company, Afonso Salema and Ruy Oliveira Neves, were arrested.
The MP also named Minister João Galamba and APA Board of Directors Chairman Nuno Lacasta as defendants.
According to the Prosecutor General’s Office (PGR), these include malfeasance, active and passive corruption among political officials and influence peddling.