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(CN) — Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa unexpectedly resigned Tuesday after police raided his official residence amid a wide-scale corruption probe into lithium mining and green hydrogen energy projects.
The resignation of the long-serving center-left Socialist prime minister came as a shock to European politics because the well-liked 62-year-old Costa was seen as a top candidate for the European Council presidency, a top job in the European Union.
Portugal’s national police on Tuesday raided his official residence, the São Bento Palace, and carried out searches at several government ministry buildings and other properties.
Costa’s chief of staff, Vítor Escária, was arrested and officials said Minister of Infrastructure João Galamba and Portuguese Environment Agency head Nuno Lacasta were indicted, according to Politico.
The dramatic events in Lisbon likely will lead to snap elections, though Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa could opt to allow Costa’s Socialists to choose a new leader and stay in power. The president was expected to hold talks Wednesday with Portugal’s political leaders.
In a nationally televised address, Costa asserted his innocence but said he must resign because “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.”
“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.”
Investigators said the probe is looking into allegations of 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, as reported by the Associated Press.
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.
An arrest warrant was issued for the mayor of Sines and three others because they represented a flight risk and to protect evidence, the prosecutor’s office said in a statement.
The probe is linked to controversial plans enthusiastically backed by Costa’s government to build a lithium mine and industrial processing complex in the bucolic Montalegre region next to the Gerês-Xurés biosphere reserve. The project was strongly opposed by locals.
The drive to open the lithium mine was part of EU efforts to become less reliant on crucial raw materials from outside the bloc. Lithium is a key ingredient in batteries used to power electric vehicles.
State investigators also are looking into suspected corruption involving a massive green hydrogen production hub in the Port of Sines. The project, considered key to the EU’s Green Deal efforts to transition away from fossil fuels, is receiving a bevy of EU funds.
Costa has been Portugal’s prime minister since 2015. But his government has been plagued by scandals in the past two years, with his infrastructure and housing minister quitting in December 2022 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.
“This is a phase of my life that comes to an end,” he said.
Courthouse News reporter Cain Burdeau is based in the European Union.
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