Portugal’s ombudswoman, Maria Lúcia Amaral, is “deeply concerned” and “perplexed” with the handling of the corruption investigation that brought down the previous government.
Amaral said everything indicated there'd been a serious mistake made by public prosecutors in Operation Influencer. “There aren’t unlimited powers in Portugal, there can’t be and everyone would agree with that,” she said.
Her comments came after the Court of Appeal in Lisbon found prosecutors had failed to demonstrate any influence Diogo Lacerda Machado, a consultant and close friend of António Costa, had over the former prime minister.
Judges described the alleged “criminal plan” as “mere deductions and speculation” and accepted the appeals of five suspects against bail measures imposed on them.
Costa resigned last year when prosecutors announced he was a target of the investigation into the construction of a hydrogen plant and data centre in Sines, as well as lithium mining in the Vila Real region. His chief of staff was briefly detained but Costa denied wrongdoing and was never charged. The president of parliament argued the prosecutor-general should face parliament to explain the processes behind the political crisis.
Critics of the public prosecutor's office have accused it of having interfered politically without having a watertight case.
Maria Lucia Amaral said that "everything indicates that there was a gross error by the public prosecutor's office, with consequences visible to everyone".
Earlier this month, the prosecutor's office said it would continue to investigate unspecified "facts that could constitute crimes" around the former government's handling of contracts and try to find those responsible.
Prosecutor General Lucilia Gago in late November rejected criticism from the Socialist Party that she or her office were responsible for Costa's resignation, saying it was based on his own assessment of his political position.
Source article by Sergio Goncalves - Reuters
