Portuguese Prime Minister resigns as he is involved in corruption scandal and influence peddling.
Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa has said he is resigning after he was detained in a probe into alleged corruption in his administration’s handling of lithium mining and hydrogen projects in the country. Costa announced his resignation in a televised statement after meeting President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa on Tuesday and accepting his resignation.
He started his statement by saying: “I wanted to say, looking into the eyes of Portuguese people, that no illicit act weighs on my conscience.”
He said: “Like always, I totally trust the justice system and its operation, the justice system that I served throughout my life and whose independence I have always defended.”
“However, I believe that the dignity of the office of prime minister is not compatible with any suspicion about your integrity, your good conduct, and even less with practical suspicion of any criminal act,” he added.
“Therefore, in these circumstances, obviously, I presented my resignation, to his excellency the President of the Republic,” he said.
This came after the prosecution declared that he was among five requested for detention including Costa’s chief of staff, Vítor Escária, and Costa’s friend, the business consultant Diogo Lacerda Machado.
Most Notably, He was a Portuguese lawyer and politician who has served as the 119th prime minister of Portugal since 26 November 2015, presiding over the XXI (2015–2019), XXII (2019–2022), and XXIII Constitutional Governments (2022–2023). Previously, Antonio Costa was Secretary of State for Parliamentary Affairs from 1995 to 1997, Minister of Parliamentary Affairs from 1997 to 1999, Minister of Justice from 1999 to 2002, Minister of Internal Administration from 2005 to 2007, as well as Mayor of Lisbon from 2007 to 2015. He was elected Secretary-General of the Socialist Party in 2014.
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