“Having been confronted with the explanations given by the Attorney General of the Republic regarding the process in which my client [António Costa] was heard in May 2024, I cannot help but find them unclear,” said lawyer João Lima Cluny, noting the absence of any appeal that might prevent the conclusion of the investigation.
Two years after the searches conducted under Operation Influencer, Amadeu Guerra explained this Friday that “there is an appeal filed by the defendants concerning the emails,” with the Public Prosecutor’s Office awaiting “the appeal in the Court of Appeals, which is being considered.”
“Emails were seized during the process, and the defendants filed an appeal. As long as we do not have access to the information contained within the emails, we cannot proceed,” added Amadeu Guerra on the sidelines of a meeting of Victim Support Offices held at the Attorney General’s Office.
In the same statements, Amadeu Guerra also made a mistake regarding António Costa’s name, which he quickly corrected, stating that “the Influencer case is not just the case of former Prime Minister António Sócrates.”
Regarding these statements, António Costa’s lawyer deemed the Attorney General’s error a “regrettable mistake” and clarified that the process in which the former prime minister provided statements does not depend on the decision of the Lisbon Court of Appeals, as it involves a certificate extracted from the Operation Influencer process.
“The truth is that in the process where he provided statements, we are not aware of any constituted defendant, nor, naturally, of any appeal that might impede the conclusion of the investigation,” António Costa’s defense added.
On November 7, 2023, five people, including António Costa’s chief of staff, Vítor Escária, were detained and later released within the framework of Operation Influencer.
The case involves suspicions of crime in the construction of a data center in Sines, Setúbal district, in lithium exploration in Montalegre and Boticas, both in Vila Real district, and in energy production from hydrogen also in Sines.
The case led to the fall of António Costa’s government (Socialist Party), with the current President of the European Council being considered a suspect without being constituted as a defendant.
