António Costa’s defense asked this Wednesday, December 3, once again, that the Public Ministry clarify the wiretaps carried out on the former prime minister e clarify the leak of information in a process that is under judicial secrecy.
In reaction to the wiretaps released today by Sábado magazine, as part of Operation Influencer, and which show conversations between António Costa and members of his executive, the former prime minister’s defense questioned: “Why is it that the content of certain criminal cases that are still under investigation continues to be released into spaces, and to which access is not given to anyone else who has a legitimate interest in them?”
In the statement sent to Lusa, lawyers João Lima Cluny and Diogo Serrano considered that the Public Ministry “has an obligation to clarify what it has actually been doing and publicly demonstrate that it has never failed to comply with the requirements of the Law”.
Even though António Costa was not the target of wiretaps, several suspects and defendants in Operation Influencer were under wiretapping and, therefore, the conversations in which the former prime minister appeared had to be validated by the Supreme Court of Justice.
In this context, as reported by Sábado magazine, judge advisor Joaquim Piçarra even warned the Public Ministry that “the interactions carried out within the scope of the criminal investigation are only a means of proving facts that constitute criminal offenses and not a means of scrutinizing government activity” and that, therefore, “they cannot serve to expose government action and the institutional contacts established by the prime minister and the other members of his government”.
Given these considerations from the Supreme Court of Justice, António Costa’s defense now wants to know “why the 50 interactions continue in the process”.
Lawyers João Lima Cluny and Diogo Serrano also considered that “what seems clear, after all this time, is the acceptance of a way of acting in which cases arise not because there is news of any crime, but for one day, perhaps, who knows, to find them”.
On November 7, 2023, five people were detained and later released as part of Operation Influencer, including Costa’s then chief of staff, Vítor Escária.
There are suspicions of crime in the construction of a data center in Sines, district of Setúbal, in the exploration of lithium in Montalegre and Boticas, both in the district of Vila Real, and in the production of energy from hydrogen, also in Sines.
The case led to the fall of the absolute majority government of the now President of the European Council.