Defense tries to invalidate evidence collected by the PSP in Operation Influencer | public ministry

The defense of the accused Afonso Salema, former CEO of Start Campus, asked the Central Criminal Investigation Court that declares the nullity of the evidence collected by the PSP in the investigation of the case Influencerwhich could jeopardize the process.

According to the request presented on Tuesday, reported by CNN Portugal and to which Lusa had access, the participation of the Public Security Police (PSP) in the investigation by the Public Ministry is invoked (MP), when the law provides for the crimes associated with the case the exclusive competence of the Judicial Police.

The invalidity of the delegation of powers for this investigation carried out by the Public Prosecutor’s Office to the PSP was already raised by this defendant’s defense in the context of the appeals against coercive measures, but the Lisbon Court of Appeal considered that it was an act that could not be scrutinized in court. The judges admitted, however, that the validity of the evidence collected by the PSP could come into question later, at trial.

“The Judiciary Police is the only criminal police body competent to carry out any steps and investigations relating to investigations in which the investigation of crimes” of corruption, influence peddling and malfeasance is at stake, according to the document, which is supported in the Criminal Investigation Organization Law (LOIC).

The request 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 Afonso Salema, “all the evidence collected during the investigation it was done by an incompetent criminal police body”.

The defense understands that, as it is not in accordance with what the law provides, the MP’s act of “delegation of competence is invalid” and also could not have been validated by an investigating judge when authorization was required to carry out telephone tapping. This argument has, however, already been expressly rejected by the Lisbon Relation.

Even so, the defense, led by lawyer Pedro Duro, insists “that the irremediable nullity of the order that gives the Public Security Police the responsibility of carrying out any steps and investigations relating to the present investigation and all the evidence” presented be declared. in the process, which in theory could affect all defendants and suspects, including former Prime Minister António Costa.

This legal issue has already been raised in numerous legal cases in which prosecutors have decided to delegate the investigation to criminal police bodies other than the PJ, which would have exclusive competence to investigate them, but the courts have understood that the Public Prosecutor’s Office, as owner of the investigation, can hand over investigation procedures to another police force.

The previous legislature was interrupted following the dismissal of António Costa from the position of prime minister, after it was revealed that he was the target of an investigation launched in the MP by the Supreme Court of Justice after a certificate of criminal proceedings had been extracted. Operation Influencer.

Last November, the Operation Influencer led to the arrest of Vítor Escária (António Costa’s chief of staff), Diogo Lacerda Machado (consultant and friend of António Costa), the administrators 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 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 investigation is centered on an alleged favoritism of the megaproject to build a digital data storage center in Sines, promoted by Start Campus. Initially, the case included suspicions about a failed project to produce energy from hydrogen also in Sines, and the exploration of lithium in the district of Vila Real, in Montalegre and Boticas. These two themes were, however, isolated in two other surveys.