The official residence of the Prime Minister of Portugal, Antonio Costawas one of the more than 40 places registered this Tuesday by the Police in an operation together with the Portuguese Prosecutor’s Office that investigates businesses in the hydrogen and lithium sector, according to local media.
Inspections have also been extended to the Ministries of Infrastructure and of Environment and have led to several arrests.
Among them, that of Costa’s chief of staff, Vítor Escáriathat of a Costa consultant, Lacerda Machado, and that of the mayor of Sines, the socialist Nuno Mascarenhasaccording to the Portuguese media Público.
The same sources reported that the Minister of the Environment, Duarto Cordeiroand that of Infrastructures, João Galambaas well as the former Minister of Environment João Pedro Matos Fernandes.
The cause would be the lithium exploitation projects in Montalegrein the north of Portugal, for a possible favor from the Portuguese Government to companies, according to the Portuguese press.