Five people detained as part of an investigation into corruption in lithium and hydrogen exploration projects are due to be identified by a judge only this Wednesday, with questioning expected to begin on Thursday afternoon, a court source said.
According to the same source, the detainees’ defense will this Wednesday familiarize themselves with 130 pages of case materials relating to the facts brought before them, and the familiarization with the materials is expected to continue on Thursday morning at the Central Criminal Court in Lisbon.
The identification of the five detainees should only be completed this Wednesday.
Interrogations of the five detained defendants are due to begin on Thursday afternoon, but there is no specific order for the hearings yet.
The same source also explained that the goal is to speed up the process given that the accused are in custody.
The prosecutor’s operation on Tuesday was based on at least 42 searches and led to the arrest of five people: the chief of staff of the Prime Minister Vitor Escaria, the president of the Chamber of Sines Nuno Mascarenhas, two administrators of the Start company. Campus, Afonso Salema and Ruy Oliveira Neves, as well as lawyer Diogo Lacerda Machado, a friend of Antonio Costa.
The accused were Infrastructure Minister João Galamba and the President of the Portuguese Environmental Protection Agency, Nuno Lacasta.
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.
In addition to Magalhães e Silva, the lawyer Diogo Lacerda Machado, the defenders of the mayor of Sines, the chief of staff of the Prime Minister, two administrators of the Start Campus company and the Sines Start Campus company.
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.
In this case, an independent investigation of the Prime Minister was carried out in the Supreme Court after the suspects named him as having interfered with the unblocking of procedures in the businesses under investigation, prompting António Costa to submit his resignation to the President of the Republic.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
I am Michael Melvin, an experienced news writer with a passion for uncovering stories and bringing them to the public. I have been working in the news industry for over five years now, and my work has been published on multiple websites. As an author at 24 News Reporters, I cover world section of current events stories that are both informative and captivating to read.