Former Chief of Staff Vítor Escária has already appealed decision
The investigating judge in the “Influencer” case that brought down an absolute majority (Socialist) government – and essentially led Portugal to its current state of political fragility – has refused to return the €75,800 discovered in envelopes in the office of the then prime minister’s Chief of Staff Vítor Escária.
Mr Escária’s lawyer, Tiago Rodrigo Bastos, has told Lusa that he has already appealed this decision (made by the Central Criminal Investigation Court) to the Lisbon Court of Appeal.
News of Judge Nuno Dias Costa’s refusal to return the money to Vítor Escária was reported today by weekly newspaper Expresso.
According to the newspaper, it results from the fact that ‘there is evidence of a criminal offence of unduly receiving an advantage’, even though this case has been effectively ‘hanging in the air’ for the best part of 18 months with no-one having been charged over any kind of illegality.
If readers can remember, the prime minister resigned over this investigation, saying he was aware it could signal the end of his political career. He is now the President of the European Council.
His former chief of staff’s explanation about the cash has been that it is income from ‘work abroad’, namely Angola.
In the same searches that discovered the €75,800 in envelopes and a box of champagne, a pen-drive was discovered in the safe of Vítor Escária’s office, containing the identification and other personal data of hundreds of agents from the Intelligence and Security Service (SIS), the Strategic Intelligence and Defence Service (SIED), the Judicial Police (PJ) and the Tax Authority (AT).
The seizure has led to an investigation for breach of state secrecy, under which Mr Escária was heard on January 30 this year by the Public Prosecutor’s Office.
Back in November 2023, Mr Escária and four others were arrested as part of Operation Influencer, and held for a number of days before being released after questioning by the investigating judge.
At issue are suspected crimes in the construction of a data centre in Sines, in lithium mining projects in Montalegre and Boticas, and in hydrogen energy production in Sines.
All defendants have denied any wrongdoing.
The case however promoted António Costa’s resignation, leading to the last election (March 2024) which delivered a minority government, supported by a coalition of social democrats, which is now a step away from a cliff-hanger motion of confidence which is widely believed to be paving the way to another ‘snap election’. ND
Source material: LUSA
