Rui Rio expressed his position today on his personal account on the social network X (formerly Twitter), while Ferro Rodrigues shared his views in a message sent to the Lusa agency.
On Thursday, it was revealed that the Central Department of Investigation and Penal Action (DCIAP) maintained, without judicial validation, 22 wiretaps involving António Costa between 2020 and 2022. These interceptions were only referred to the Supreme Court of Justice (STJ) in October of this year, when the court no longer had the jurisdiction to review them.
According to Rui Rio, this situation “is of the utmost seriousness in a democratic rule of law, as it undermines its foundations”.
“For me, this serious regime problem will only be resolved when we can definitively answer the crucial question: ‘Who watches the watchers?'”, he stated.
This is of the utmost seriousness in a DEMOCRATIC RULE OF LAW, because it undermines its foundations.
For me, this serious regime problem will only be resolved when we can definitively answer the crucial question: “Who watches the watchers?”https://t.co/v5gafc9HNz #— Rui Rio (@RuiRioPT) November 21, 2025
Ferro Rodrigues, former president of the Assembly of the Republic, also commented on the case: “I cannot be the one again to publicly state how this is a disgrace, a scandal, and a grotesque disrespect for the laws of the Democratic State”.
“I have moved from indignation to disgust”, he added.
The Attorney General’s Office (PGR) acknowledged today that seven wiretaps involving the former prime minister were identified and not communicated to the Supreme Court of Justice “due to various technical reasons”.
Ferro Rodrigues expressed perplexity over the justification of “various technical reasons”.
In a statement published today, the PGR explained that during a recent review of all wiretaps conducted as part of Operation Influencer, seven wiretaps were identified, “also involving Prime Minister António Costa, which, for various technical reasons, had not been initially detected”.
Of these seven wiretaps, six were attempts to contact, the PGR noted in the same statement, highlighting that “all telephone wiretaps conducted in these processes [Operation Influencer], without exception, were timely presented for periodic control to the Judge of Instruction of the Central Court of Criminal Investigation (TCIC)”.
The seven wiretaps in question “were immediately brought to the attention of the president of the STJ, through the judge of instruction of the TCIC”, with the president of the STJ considering in an order “no longer competent to review the matter as António Costa is no longer the prime minister at this time”.
Of these seven wiretaps, six were attempts to contact, the PGR noted in the same statement. The seven wiretaps in question “were immediately brought to the attention of the president of the STJ, through the judge of instruction of the TCIC”.
Lusa | 11:33 – 21/11/2025
The Attorney General’s Office also reiterated that António Costa was never directly targeted by wiretaps or surveillances — neither during his tenure as prime minister nor after leaving the Government.
“Incidentally, during wiretaps conducted on other individuals, communications involving Prime Minister António Costa were detected”, the PGR clarified, adding that these wiretaps were always known to the president of the Supreme Court of Justice.
The wiretaps are said to have been conducted between 2020 and 2022, and the contacts involved included João Galamba, then Deputy Secretary of State for Energy and Secretary of State for the Environment and Energy, Lacerda Machado, a friend and former consultant to the Government on the privatization of TAP, and João Pedro Matos Fernandes, then Minister of Environment and Climate Action, according to reports.
