For Ana Gomes, the Lisbon Court of Appeal's decision on the appeals by the Public Prosecution Service and the defendants Vítor Escária and Diogo Lacerda Machado, within the scope of Operation Influencer, "is a scathing indictment of the investigation", adding that Lucília Gago should be "invited to resign". 

"The Court of Appeal's decision is a scathing indictment of the investigation. Three judges state that, in relation to the evidence provided by the Public Prosecution Service, they see no evidence of anything or any suspicions about António Costa. And even in relation to João Galamba, who was the subject of a four-year investigation involving wiretaps", she said in her weekly commentary on SIC Notícias. 

Ana Gomes also stresses that "an investigation is still ongoing", maintaining "criticism of António Costa for choosing that chief of staff, the one who had the money on the shelf, or giving power to that dubious friend". However, "that is secondary to the issue that has now been made clear by the Public Prosecution Service".

The retired diplomat recalls the irony of António Costa having appointed the current Attorney General of the Republic, Lucília Gago, who she believes should resign. 

"The Attorney General of the Republic, who is supposed to be at the top of the hierarchy, is the one who has to take responsibility. But she not only fails to communicate, she also fails to exercise her authority. She does none of that and even declared herself unaccountable when she said she did not feel responsible. It is obvious that she is responsible", she also considers, adding that Lucília Gago "should be invited to resign by Marcelo or by the Government".

"But I have no hope that she will do so, or that these entities will do so", she adds. Finally, Ana Gomes advocates for "justice reform".

"Citizens increasingly see that there is one justice system for the rich and another for the poor", she asserts. 

It should be recalled that Operation Influencer led to the arrest of Vítor Escária, António Costa's chief of staff, as well as the lawyer, consultant and friend of the former Prime Minister Diogo Lacerda Machado, the directors of the company Start Campus Afonso Salema and Rui Oliveira Neves, and also the Mayor of Sines, Nuno Mascarenhas, who was released by the judge after judicial questioning.

In addition to these, there are four other defendants in the case, including the former Minister of Infrastructure João Galamba, the president of the Portuguese Environment Agency, Nuno Lacasta, the lawyer, former Secretary of State for Justice and former spokesman for the Socialist Party (PS) João Tiago Silveira and the company Start Campus.

The case is related to the production of energy from hydrogen in Sines, Setúbal, and to the project to build a data centre in the industrial and logistics zone of Sines by Start Campus. António Costa was associated with this case and was the subject of an inquiry opened by the Public Prosecution Service at the STJ, a situation that led him to resign and call early elections on 10 March.

Even so, in February, the judge in Operation Influencer considered the Public Prosecution Service's thesis that the defendants Diogo Lacerda Machado and Vitor Escária tried to pressure António Costa to approve a decree-law favourable to the company Start Campus to be contradictory and vague, an argument included in the response by the magistrate Nuno Dias Costa to the Public Prosecution Service's appeal against the coercive measures, none of which involved detention.

Now, last Wednesday, the Lisbon Court of Appeal rejected the Public Prosecution Service's appeal in the Operation Influencer case, reduced the defendants' coercive measures to a term of identity and residence and understood that there was no evidence of crimes.

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