Portugal’s infrastructure minister resigns amid investigation

1 year ago 39

Infrastructure Minister João Galamba submitted his resignation on Monday, as he believes it is the only way to give his family privacy after he became an official suspect last week as part of the public prosecutor’s investigation into the lithium, hydrogen and data centre business in Sines.

“I have submitted this resignation after deep personal and family reflection, and because I consider that as a father and husband, this decision is the only one possible to ensure my family the tranquillity and discretion to which they are unequivocally entitled,” reads the statement sent by the Infrastructure Ministry.

Galamba was made an official suspect last week as part of a public prosecutor’s investigation into the lithium, hydrogen and data centre business in Sines.

At the hearing in parliament on Friday, as part of the committee debate on the 2024 state budget bill, João Galamba had said that he had no intention of resigning.

“Firstly, I would like to say that I have tendered my resignation despite the fact that I believe that the political conditions available to me for the exercise of my functions have not been exhausted,” said Galamba, who took over Infrastructures in January following the resignation of Pedro Nuno Santos.

The former secretary of state for energy stressed that while he held this post, he was committed “in full accordance with the priorities of the European Union and the government’s programme, to the energy transition” which he always considered “a challenge that opened up unique opportunities for technological and industrial development and greater energy independence for the country”.

The five official suspects detained in the case linked to the lithium, hydrogen and Sines Data Centre deals were all subject to non-custodial measures of restraint, announced the Criminal Investigation Court in Lisbon on Monday.

The suspect Diogo Lacerda Machado, a lawyer, consultant and friend of the prime minister, was ordered to post a bond of €150,000 within 15 days, not to travel abroad and to surrender his passport to the court within 24 hours.

Vítor Escária, former chief of staff to Prime Minister António Costa was ordered not to travel abroad and to surrender passport to the court within 24 hours.

The mayor of Sines, Nuno Mascarenhas, and the directors Rui Oliveira Neves and Afonso Salema, both of the Start Campus company, were subject to periodical identity and residence confirmation (TIR), the least severe coercive measure.

The Start Campus company, an official suspect in the case, was ordered to post a bond of €600,000 within 15 days.

According to the statement issued by the Central Criminal Investigation Court, Judge Nuno Dias Costa considered that Diogo Lacerda Machado and Vítor Escária are “strongly indicted” as co-authors and in the consummated form of a crime of influence peddling.

For his part, he considered that Afonso Salema and Rui Oliveira Neves are accused of co-authoring a crime of influence peddling and a crime of unduly offering an advantage.

With regard to the Start Campus company, the judge ruled that it is “strongly indicted” for a crime of influence peddling and a crime of improperly offering an advantage, which was carried out through the directors Afonso Salema and Rui Oliveira Neves.

The note sent by the court does not mention the indictment of the mayor of Sines for any offence.

The judge did not validate the offences of malfeasance and active and passive corruption that some of the suspects were charged with.

(Maria João Pereira e Célia Paulo, Edited by Cristina Cardoso | Lusa.pt)