Portugal’s prime minister, confused with another minister, resigns due to legal error

A big mistake is not without consequences. On Tuesday, November 7, Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa resigned from the government after eight years in power following a corruption investigation.

Involved in this scandal, which led to the indictment of one of his ministers and the head of his administration, the socialist António Costa announced his resignation, saying that “the functions of Prime Minister are incompatible with any suspicion of [son] honesty. » The resignation was accepted by the President of the Republic, Conservative Marcelo Rebelo de Souza.

But on Monday, November 13, an unexpected turn occurred. The prosecutor admitted a mistake due to the similarity of the prime minister’s name with another minister. Prime Minister António Costa is not involved in this, since the target of the attack is actually Economy Minister António Costa Silva. According to Euronews, a mistake was made in the transcript of wiretaps that led to the fall of the Portuguese government.

“Surprised” by the discovery of this investigation

In one of the conversations that led to accusations of corruption and influence peddling, the prime minister’s lawyer and friend Diogo Lacerda Machado tries to get a deal done and mentions António Costa’s name, but is talking about the economy minister. Only a few days later, while in jail, the lawyer realized the misunderstanding and warned the judges.

If the Prime Minister said he was “surprised” by the investigation into him, the incident does not call his resignation into question. Indeed, since 2020, António Costa has been under surveillance as part of other investigations in which he is allegedly involved.

Its popularity ratings have dropped noticeably in recent months, in part due to “TAPgate”, the name of the Portuguese state-owned airline. Since the revelation of this case, more than a dozen ministers and secretaries of state have left their posts.