Evidence gathered in the scope of Operation Influencer, including that used in the investigation of former Prime Minister António Costa, could be declared null by the examining magistrate.

The investigation in question is for alleged prevarication that is taking place in the Central Department of Investigation and Criminal Action (DCIAP), in the scope of which the Lisbon Court of Appeal (TRL) issued a ruling against the Public Prosecutor's Office (MP), announced on 17 April.

In that ruling, the TRL decided to keep the defendants only subject to a Term of Identity and Residence, considering that there was no evidence of a crime in the investigation.

In the document, says Eco, it is also stated that the evidence in question should have been gathered by the Judiciary Police (PJ) and not by the Public Security Police (PSP), as these are suspicions of corruption and prevarication crimes.

In this context, the lawyers of these defendants sent a request to the court, on Tuesday, considering that an "irremediable nullity" was committed.

"It is requested that the irremediable nullity of the order that gives the PSP the responsibility of carrying out the evidence brought to the case be declared" says the request from the lawyers quoted by Eco.

"The Judiciary Police is the only criminal police body competent to carry out any proceedings and investigations related to inquiries that involve the investigation of crimes" of corruption, influence peddling and prevarication, according to the document, which is based on the Criminal Investigation Organization Law (LOIC).

The request sent to the Central Criminal Investigation Court (TCIC) therefore alleges that "the MP cannot delegate to the PSP" the practice of acts of investigation of crimes that fall within the sphere of the PJ and recalls that, in relation to the defendant Afonso Salema, "all the evidence gathered during the inquiry was by an incompetent criminal police body".

The defense understands that, as it does not comply with what the law provides, the act of the MP of "delegating competence is invalid" and could not have been validated by an examining magistrate when authorization was required to carry out telephone tapping.

In this sense, the defense, in charge of lawyer Pedro Duro, asks "that the irremediable nullity of the order that gives the Public Security Police the responsibility of carrying out any proceedings and investigations related to this inquiry and all the evidence" presented in the process be declared, which may affect all the defendants and suspects, including former Prime Minister António Costa.

Since the appeal in question only referred to the coercive measures, it is the examining magistrate who will have to decide the fate of the evidence gathered, and not the second instance.

Therefore, it is now up to Nuno Dias Costa, examining magistrate in this case, to take the next step, which may involve the nullity of the evidence. If this happens, the possibility of the MP proceeding with the accusation may fall apart.

It should be recalled that the previous legislature was interrupted following the resignation of António Costa, after it was disclosed that he was the target of an inquiry instituted in the MP with the Supreme Court of Justice after a certificate was extracted from the Operation Influencer criminal proceedings.

Operation Influencer led at the time to the arrest of Vítor Escária (António Costa's chief of staff), Diogo Lacerda Machado (consultant and friend of António Costa), the directors of the company Start Campus Afonso Salema and Rui Oliveira Neves, and the mayor of Sines, Nuno Mascarenhas, who were released after judicial interrogation.

There are also other defendants, including the now former Minister of Infrastructure João Galamba, the former president of the Portuguese Environment Agency, Nuno Lacasta, the former PS spokesperson João Tiago Silveira and Start Campus.

The case is related to the project to build a data center in the industrial and logistics zone of Sines by Start Campus, the production of energy from hydrogen in Sines, and the exploration of lithium in the district of Vila Real, in Montalegre and Boticas.

[News updated at 13:09]

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