Probe into former Portugal PM Antonio Costa appears to collapse
Portugal's outgoing prime minister, Antonio Costa, answers to journalists at the Socialist party’s electoral night headquarters in Lisbon on 10 March 2024. Portugal's opposition center-right party won today's general election while support for populist far-right Chega surged making it a kingmaker in the new parliament, an exit poll indicated. The center-right Democratic Alliance (AD) is expected to win 83 to 91 seats in the 230-seat parliament, the poll for public television RTP showed. That compares to the 69 to 77 seats for the Socialists who have ruled since 2015. Chega is on track to win 40 to 46 seats, up from just 12, making it a kingmaker in the new parliament.
PATRICIA DE MELO MOREIRA / AFP
The corruption investigation that led Portugal's former Prime Minister Antonio Costa to resign last year is in danger of collapsing after a court said there had been no indication of a crime being committed.
The then-Socialist Party leader suddenly quit on 7 November, ending almost nine years in office, after he became embroiled in a probe into his administration's handling of energy-related contracts.
"The elements do not in their own right constitute criminal nature," the Lisbon Court of Appeal said in a statement Wednesday. "None of the facts reported indicate that crimes have been committed," it said, criticizing the investigation that began in November.
Costa, who is rumored as a possible successor to Charles Michel as President of the European Council, was accused of having participated in drawing up a land planning law benefiting a company which planned to build a mega-data center near the southern port of Sines.
When the court states that "there are no criminal clues", this is "a very harsh expression about an investigation that has had very serious political consequences for the country," Socialist MP Mariana Vieira da Silva said on Thursday.
"This deserves explanations and consequences", she told Radio 1, stating that Costa had still not been heard by the courts.
Leader of the far-right Chega party, Andre Ventura, denounced the "pressure" on the judiciary to "quickly clear" Costa "because he has to go to the European Council".
On Wednesday, Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa said it was becoming more likely that a "Portuguese will sit on the European Council this autumn in Brussels".
In November, the Public Prosecutor's Office raided Costa's official residence, while his chief of staff and a business lawyer close to the former prime minister were taken into custody.
The Prosecutor's office said in a statement that Costa's name had been mentioned by some suspects and that as a result proceedings against him had been opened in the Supreme Court of Justice.
Costa announced his resignation the same day and said he would not stand for re-election. His Socialist Party then narrowly lost the ensuing elections.