António Costa gave a lesson in political ethics on Tuesday. It took minutes for the Portuguese Prime Minister to get into the official car to present his resignation to the President of the Republic, as soon as a press release from the Public Prosecutor’s Office was published announcing that he would be investigated by the Supreme Court. Costa stated that he did not know what he was being accused of, but believed that the dignity of his position would be in question if he did not submit his resignation. The court case has thrown Portuguese politics into disarray after two people close to him, his chief of staff Vítor Escária and his friend Diogo Lacerda Machado, were arrested for alleged crimes of influence peddling, subterfuge and corruption in four projects. Three other people have been arrested. Infrastructure Minister João Galamba and Environment Agency President Nuno Lacasta were also charged.
What is striking about Costa is that he does not place the same ethical demands on the people around him. And this détente towards his people ultimately cost him his position. Concern over the business of his close friend Diogo Lacerda Machado began almost from the start. The relationship between the two, which began while they were studying law in Lisbon, was so close that António Costa took him as a best man at his wedding. Since he became head of government, he has wanted to have him just as close to him.
After his appointment as prime minister in 2015, Costa turned to Lacerda Machado to negotiate the withdrawal of the privatization of the airline TAP, which was then in the hands of a consortium led by David Neeleman, the owner of the airline Azul. In December of the same year, the minister responsible for the airline presented his negotiating team to TAP’s owners: two foreign ministers and Diogo Lacerda. Two years later, the Prime Minister will appoint him as administrator of the airline, when the majority of the capital is already back in public hands.
Costa is also responsible for managing the conflict with those affected by the collapse of Banco Espírito Santo and the dispute in the BIS between Angola’s Isabel dos Santos and CaixaBank. These placements took place without any appointment or hiring on the part of the public administration (“too much relaxation,” complained António Vitorino, the socialist who headed the International Organization for Migration) and ultimately generated so much controversy that Costa decided to hire him Boyfriend for 2,000 euros a month.
Diogo Lacerda Machado, who never joined the Socialist Party, had worked in António Costa’s team during his time as justice minister and António Guterres’ term as prime minister. From 2002 he dedicated himself to the private sector as an administrator of companies in the banking, energy and aviation sectors. When Costa became prime minister, his friend was a constant companion who seemed more at home in the backroom than in public office.
A sought-after piece for investors
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In recent years the lawyer has devoted himself to his private practice. His proximity to the Prime Minister and his entourage made him a sought-after piece for hasty investors. In the case that led to him sleeping in a dungeon for two nights, Diogo Lacerda would have been the bribe of António Costa’s chief of staff, Vítor Escária, according to the newspaper Público.
Lacerda was hired in 2021 by the British investment fund Pioneer Point Partners, which, together with another American company, is promoting the construction of a large digital data storage center in Sines, known as Start Campus. The project, which envisaged an investment of 3.5 billion euros to build nine buildings powered by renewable energy, was classified as an initiative of potential national interest in 2022, a year after it was signed by Costa’s friend. According to prosecutors’ sources cited by Expresso, the lawyer was hired to “take advantage of his close friendship with the Prime Minister and his proximity to Vítor Escária.”
But the election of Escária as chief of staff also showed Costa’s relaxation towards his circle. Vítor Escária was forced to resign as economic adviser to the prime minister in 2017 due to Galpgate, a scandal caused by the gift of travel and tickets paid by the Galp company to politicians to attend the 2016 European Football Championship in France. Escária and his wife were two of the beneficiaries. However, this did not stop Costa from proposing him as chief of staff in 2020.
Another controversial signing by the prime minister was the appointment of Miguel Alves as deputy foreign minister, where he remained for barely 55 days after he was accused of subterfuge during his time as mayor of Caminha. Alves had advanced 300,000 euros to a businessman with a dubious past to build an exhibition center that does not exist. This was one of the scandals that marred António Costa’s first year of absolute majority. Within nine months, eleven foreign ministers left the government, most of them due to alleged irregularities or conflicts of interest. The Prime Minister tried to downplay many of them as a collection of “casinhos” and sometimes defended them beyond what the President of the Republic considered appropriate, as happened during the scandal surrounding João Galamba, the Minister of Infrastructure, who was vehemently defended by Costa. This happened despite the crazy events in his ministry, which included threats, robberies and the actions of the secret services.
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