Former Prime Minister António Costa announced today that he has instructed his lawyer to submit a request to allow him to be heard “as quickly as possible” by the courts in order to “clarify any doubts” and any suspicions.
“I have appointed a lawyer and I have instructed the lawyer to file a request today with the coordinator of the Public Prosecutor’s Office at the Supreme Court of Justice so that they can hear me as quickly as possible to clarify any doubts they have about the suspicion they have because there is nothing worse than having a suspicion and it not being clarified,” said António Costa as he left the inauguration of Luís Montenegro’s government.
Reiterating that he is “fully available to cooperate with the justice system”, the now former prime minister reiterated that, as he said when he resigned, “anyone who is subject to public suspicion” like that which existed against him “must preserve the institutions”.
The previous legislature was interrupted following the resignation of the Prime Minister, António Costa (PS), after it became public that he was the subject of a judicial inquiry launched by the Public Prosecutor’s Office at the Supreme Court of Justice as a result of the so-called Operation Influencer.
This lawsuit is related to the production of energy from hydrogen in Sines, Setúbal, and the project to build a data center in the industrial and logistics area of Sines by Start Campus.
The President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, immediately accepted the Prime Minister’s resignation and two days later announced to the country the dissolution of parliament and the calling of elections, which took place on March 10, giving the PSD/CDS-PP/PPM a majority.
