The Public Ministry (MP) announced this Monday that it will appeal the enforcement measures against five accused detained in the investigation of the lithium, hydrogen business and data centers in Sines, who were released by court order.
“The Ministry of State will appeal,” the Prosecutor General’s Office (PGR) responded to Lusa after the release of the chief of staff of the Prime Minister, Vitor Escaria, a consultant to Diogo Lacerda Machado, a friend of António Costa, the mayor of the city. Sines, Nuno Mascarenhas and Start campus administrators Afonso Salema and Ruy Oliveira Neves, detained since Tuesday.
Judge Nuno Díaz Costa of the Central Criminal Court found Diogo Lacerdo Machado severely accused of influence peddling and ordered him to post bail of 150 thousand euros within 15 days and not travel abroad, but he must deliver his passport within 24 hours.
Vitor Escaria, who was found to have strong evidence of an influence-peddling crime, was banned from traveling abroad and had to surrender his passport.
Mayor Nuno Mascarenhas and administrators Rui Oliveira Neves and Afonso Salema from the launch campus were subject to the TIR and the company was required to pay a deposit of 600 thousand euros. There was no evidence of any wrongdoing against the mayor, and two administrators were charged with peddling influence and improperly offering benefits.
However, the judge did not appreciate the evidence presented by the deputy of corruption and malfeasance from which the defendants suffered.
The coercive measures did not advance the deputy who demanded the preventive detention of Lacerda Machado and Vitor Escaria; bail of 200 thousand and 100 thousand euros for Afonso Salema and Rui Oliveira Neves, respectively, as well as a ban on contact with other defendants; suspension of the mandate, prohibition of contact and entry into the institutions of the local authorities of Nuno Mascarenhas; and a €19 million deposit for Start Campus.
The investigation came to light following an operation carried out by MPs last Tuesday which involved more than 40 searches and resulted in the arrests of five people.
There are a total of nine defendants in the case, including the Minister of Infrastructure João Galamba, the President of the Portuguese Environmental Agency Nuno Lacasta, lawyer, former Secretary of State for Justice and former PS representative João Thiago Silveira and company. Launch the campus.
The process is linked to lithium exploration in Montalegre and Boticas (both districts of Vila Real), to the production of energy from hydrogen in Sines, Setúbal, and to the Start Campus project for the construction of a Data Center in the industrial and logistics zone of Sines.
Prime Minister António Costa, who appears to have been involved in the matter, was the subject of an investigation launched by a member of the Supreme Court, a situation that forced him to resign and the President of the Republic to call early elections to the Supreme Court. March 10, 2024
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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