A statement from the PGR reveals that seven wiretaps involving António Costa were not initially detected and justifies the failure with “various technical reasons”.
Following the news released this Thursday by the , the Attorney General’s Office (PGR) issued a statement today in which it admits that it did not inform the president of the Supreme Court of Justice of the existence of seven wiretaps that involved António Costa.
The fault has been detected”during a new analysis of all the wiretaps carried out”, seven new wiretaps were identified, “in which Prime Minister António Costa was also involved”. six were just contact attempts, which were not previously detected by “various technical reasons”.
In a statement, the PGR also assumes that, as soon as it detected the error, it informed the president of the STJ, through the TCIC Investigating Judge, who understood, however, that he no longer had jurisdiction as António Costa was no longer head of the Executive, “ordering the file returned to the TCIC Judge”.
The PGR also ensures that formality was always complied with in all other telephone interceptions that involved the former ruler, guaranteeing that “all telephone taps carried out within the scope of these processes, without any exception, were timely submitted for periodic control to the Investigating Judge of the Central Criminal Investigation Court (TCIC)”.
The note also details that this Thursday “a decision was handed down by the president of the Lisbon Court of Appeal, rejecting the incidents of complaints about breach of professional secrecy presented by two lawyers, therefore, when it becomes final, the procedures for selecting relevant evidence in matters of electronic mail will begin”.
Who is involved in these wiretaps?
Nas by António Costa with the main suspects in the process as Vítor Escária (at the time, chief of staff), Diogo Lacerda Machado (“the best friend”) and João Galamba (former Minister of Infrastructure).
Conversations were also captured with João Pedro Matos Fernandes, at the time Minister of the Environment and suspected of passive corruption and malfeasance, a reason that justified the tapping of his phone.
