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Prime Minister Ant\u00f3nio Costa of Portugal resigned unexpectedly on Tuesday, hours after the police raided government buildings as part of an inquiry into corruption and \u201cinfluence peddling\u201d and issued an arrest warrant for Mr. Costa\u2019s chief of staff.<\/p>\n
Mr. Costa, who had been in power since 2015, said in televised remarks that he had been \u201csurprised\u201d to learn that he would be the subject of criminal proceedings and that \u201cno illicit act weighs on my conscience.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHowever, I believe that the dignity of the office of the prime minister is not compatible with any suspicion about your integrity, your good conduct and even less with the practical suspicion of any criminal act,\u201d he added. \u201cTherefore, in these circumstances, obviously, I presented my resignation.\u201d<\/p>\n
A judge authorized police to search 37 locations \u2014 including the office of Mr. Costa\u2019s chief of staff, the Ministry of Environment, the Ministry of Infrastructure, a City Council office in the town of Sines and several private homes, according to a statement<\/a> from the prosecutor general\u2019s office.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The investigation relates to lithium exploration concessions in northern Portugal and a hydrogen-energy production plant and data center in Sines, on the country\u2019s southern coast, the statement said.<\/p>\n It did not name Mr. Costa, but said that arrest warrants were issued for the head of the prime minister\u2019s office \u2014 identified by local media as V\u00edtor Esc\u00e1ria \u2014 along with the mayor of Sines and three other individuals. Portugal\u2019s minister of infrastructure and the head of Portugal\u2019s Environmental Agency were also named as suspects in the statement.<\/p>\n The prosecutor\u2019s office said that investigation showed that the suspects had invoked Mr. Costa\u2019s name and authority \u201cto unblock procedures\u201d in relation to the exploration concessions.<\/p>\n Portugal has significant reserves<\/a> of lithium \u2014 an essential ingredient in electric car<\/a> batteries and renewable energy. <\/p>\n Mr. Costa, the leader of the Socialist Party, took office in 2015 when he lost an election but ended up becoming prime minister anyway<\/a> after persuading two smaller left-wing parties to back him. At the time, the alliance was ridiculed as a \u201cgeringon\u00e7a,\u201d or \u201ccontraption,\u201d that his opponents said would fall apart in no time \u2014 but he has been in power ever since.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n