LISBON: Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa resigned Tuesday after his government was involved in a widespread corruption probe, sending a shock wave through the normally tranquil politics of the European Union member.
The 62-year-old Costa, Portugal’s Socialist leader since 2015, asserted his innocence but said in a nationally televised address that “in these circumstances, obviously, I have presented my resignation to the president of the republic.”
The announcement came hours after police arrested his chief of staff while raiding several public buildings and other properties as part of the probe.
The state prosecutor’s office said the Supreme Court was examining suspects’ “use of the prime minister’s name and his involvement” when carrying out allegedly illicit activities. It said the minister of infrastructure, João Galamba, and the head of the environmental agency were among those named as suspects.
Portuguese president Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa quickly accepted Costa’s resignation. He is expected to dissolve parliament and call for a new election.
The president said in a statement that he is calling parliament to convene on Wednesday, and he will speak to the nation after the Council of State gathers on Thursday.
Costa teared up while thanking his family for their support.
“I totally trust the justice system,” he said. “I want to say, eye to eye to the Portuguese, that no illicit or even reprehensible act weighs on my conscience.” He acknowledged that he was not “above the law.”
“The dignity of the prime minister’s office is not compatible with any suspicion on his integrity, good conduct, and even less so with the suspicion that any criminal acts were committed,” Costa said.
An investigative judge had issued arrest warrants for Vítor Escária, Costa’s chief of staff; the mayor of the town of Sines; and three others because they represented a flight risk and to protect evidence, the prosecutor’s office said in a statement.
The judge is investigating alleged malfeasance, corruption of elected officials and influence peddling related to lithium mine concessions near Portugal’s northern border with Spain and plans for a green hydrogen plant and data center in Sines on the south coast.
The police raids included the premises of the ministry of the environment, the ministry of infrastructure, the Sines town council, private homes and offices.
Portugal’s lithium mines and green hydrogen projects are part of the continent’s green initiative being pushed, and heavily funded, by the European Union. Costa has been a major backer of the projects and an ally of Spain’s acting Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.
Costa had looked set to remain in power for several years after his Socialists scored a landslide victory in elections last year.
But in December 2022, his infrastructure and housing minister was forced to quit amid an outcry over a 500,000-euro ($533,000) compensation payment made to a board member of state-owned flag carrier TAP Air Portugal. The junior minister for infrastructure also stepped down.
A total of 10 senior government officials have left their jobs since Costa’s party won the 2022 ballot.
Costa said he had no prior indication he was being scrutinized by legal authorities.
“This is a phase of my life that comes to an end,” he said.
Portugal’s prime minister resigns as his government is involved in a corruption investigation
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Portugal’s prime minister resigns as his government is involved in a corruption investigation
- The announcement came hours after police arrested his chief of staff while raiding several public buildings
- The state prosecutor’s office said the Supreme Court was examining suspects’ “use of the prime minister’s name and his involvement” when carrying out allegedly illicit activities
Treason trial of South Sudan’s suspended VP is further eroding peace deal, UN experts say
- The experts said forces from both sides are continuing to confront each other across much of the country
- “Years of neglect have fragmented government and opposition forces alike,” the experts said
UNITED NATIONS: The treason trial of South Sudan’s suspended vice president is further eroding a 2018 peace agreement he signed with President Salva Kiir, UN experts warned in a new report.
As Riek Machar’s trial is taking place in the capital, Juba, the experts said forces from both sides are continuing to confront each other across much of the country and there is a threat of renewed major conflict.
UN peacekeeping chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix told the UN Security Council last month that the crisis in South Sudan is escalating, “a breaking point” has become visible, and time is running “dangerously short” to bring the peace process back on track.
There were high hopes when oil-rich South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in 2011 after a long conflict, but the country slid into a civil war in December 2013 largely based on ethnic divisions, when forces loyal to Kiir, an ethnic Dinka, battled those loyal to Machar, an ethnic Nuer.
More than 400,000 people were killed in the war, which ended with the 2018 peace agreement that brought Kiir and Machar together in a government of national unity. But implementation has been slow, and a long-delayed presidential election is now scheduled for December 2026.
The panel of UN experts stressed in a report this week that the political and security landscape in South Sudan looks very different today than it did in 2018 and that “the conflict that now threatens looks much different to those that came before.”
“Years of neglect have fragmented government and opposition forces alike,” the experts said, “resulting in a patchwork of uniformed soldiers, defectors and armed community defense groups that are increasingly preoccupied by local struggles and often unenthused by the prospect of a national confrontation. ”
With limited supplies and low morale, South Sudan’s military has relied increasingly on aerial bombings that are “relatively indiscriminate” to disrupt the opposition, the experts said.
In a major escalation of tensions in March, a Nuer militia seized an army garrison. Kiir’s government responded, charging Machar and seven other opposition figures with treason, murder, terrorism and other crimes.
The UN experts said Kiir and his allies insist that, despite having dismissed Machar, implementation of the peace agreement is unaffected, pointing to a faction of the opposition led by Stephen Par Kuol that is still engaged in the peace process.
Those who refused to join Kuol and sided with Machar’s former deputy, Natheniel Oyet, “have largely been removed from their positions, forcing many to flee the country,” the experts said in the report.
The African Union, regional countries and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, or IGAD, have all called for Machar’s release and stressed their strong support for implementation of the 2018 agreement, the panel said.
According to the latest international assessment, 7.7 million people — 57 percent of the population — face “crisis” levels of food insecurity, with pockets of famine in some communities most affected by renewed fighting, the panel said.
