The mayor of Sines, Nuno Mascarenhas, and Afonso Salema, the administrator of the company Start Campus, detained as part of an investigation into the lithium and green hydrogen business, will testify during the judicial interrogation, lawyers said this Wednesday.
On Wednesday afternoon, the five detainees will begin questioning at the Lisbon Criminal Court by investigating judge Nuno Díaz Costa regarding the use of coercive measures.
Entering court, lawyer Pedro Duro, who represents Afonso Salema, one of the administrators of the Start Campus company, told reporters that his client “will obviously make a statement.”
“It’s normal that a businessman like him, who has his own activities, has nothing to hide or explain his activities,” he said.
Without speaking specifically about his client, the lawyer emphasized that we are talking about crimes of “active and passive corruption,” and considered Tuesday’s searches “normal when there are suspicions of this kind,” also stating that “the processes are going to be placed in accordance with the usual procedures.”
Asked whether there would be any intervention by the Prime Minister in the process, he said that “since there is a separation of powers, the courts independently review the trials according to the evidence they find at each stage and according to the functions performed by each judge.” at every stage of the process.”
“There’s obviously a different sense of heaviness because it had the same political impact,” he said.
The lawyer also said that he does not know at what time the defendants will begin to be interrogated at the first judicial interrogation, emphasizing that the interrogation should last several days, taking into account the number of defendants.
Maria Amelia Cruz, the lawyer for the mayor of Sines, did not want to answer reporters, but said that Nuno Mascarenhas will testify to the investigating judge.
Lawyer Thiago Rodriguez Basto, spokesman for António Costa’s chief of staff, Vitor Escaria, did not want to say whether his constituent would make a statement, adding that he intends to learn this Wednesday about the facts brought against his client.
Also joining the criminal court was Sines Start Campus lawyer Paulo Fariña Alves, who only told reporters that he represented the company.
In addition to Nuno Mascarenhas, Afonso Salema and Vitor Escaria, another Start Campus administrator and lawyer and consultant Diogo Lacerda Machado, a friend of Antonio Costa, were arrested on Tuesday as part of the investigation into the lithium and green hydrogen case. business.
The ministry’s operation on Tuesday was based on at least 42 searches and led to the arrest of five people and charges against Infrastructure Minister Joao Galamba and Portuguese Environmental Agency President Nuno Lacasta.
The process targets the lithium exploration concessions of Montalegre and Boticas, both in Vila Real; a project for the production of energy from hydrogen in Sines, Setubal, as well as a project for the construction of a “data center” in the industrial and logistics zone of Sines by Start Campus.
Prime Minister António Costa was the subject of an independent investigation carried out by the Ministry of State in an investigation launched in the Supreme Court after suspects named him as having interfered with the unblocking of procedures in the businesses under investigation, which led him to submit his resignation to the President of the Republic.
According to documents accessed by Luza, Lacerda Machado allegedly used his friendship with the prime minister to influence decisions by the government and other organizations regarding Start Campus projects.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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