Escária appointed director of the Higher Institute of Management

Vítor Escária, former chief of staff to António Costa, has been appointed director of the Instituto Superior de Gestão (ISG) in Lisbon, the institution announced in a statement this Tuesday. This is the first known appointment since the discovery of envelopes containing €75,800 in his office in the Prime Minister's office, which contributed to António Costa's resignation in November 2023. He is currently a defendant in the Influencer case.

In a statement released by the school, which is part of the Lusófona Group, it is announced that "Professor Doctor Vítor Escária is the new Director of ISG. We are beginning a new chapter in the history of the Instituto Superior de Gestão with renewed energy and ambition to strengthen our mission as a Higher Education Institution of Excellence."

The ISG also highlights Escária's academic career , highlighting his PhD in Economics from the University of York in the United Kingdom and his Master's degree in Monetary and Financial Economics from ISEG in Lisbon. "He is the author of several scientific articles in scientific journals. He has also supervised several master's dissertations and several doctoral theses. His areas of specialization are labor market economics and economic policy."

The ISG note, however, makes no reference to Escária's professional career , which included positions in top offices of several socialist governments. He was an advisor to José Sócrates between 2005 and 2011, and was one of those responsible for economic diplomacy with Venezuela. Relations he maintained and fostered when, in 2012, he moved to the private sector through the company Iguarivarius.

He returned to politics in April 2015, when he was announced as one of the 12 "wise men" who would help prepare the macroeconomic program with which António Costa would present himself for election – a group that also included Mário Centeno, João Leão, João Galamba, and Fernando Rocha Andrade, who ultimately assumed government roles in Costa's administrations. Escária was appointed senior advisor to the prime minister's office.

Who is Vítor Escária, Costa's chief of staff who was arrested?

He remained in that position until July 2017, when he resigned following the controversial trips paid for by Galp for members of the Government to watch the national football team's matches at Euro 2016, and was even named as a defendant in this case.

The case was shelved and the economist returned to São Bento, this time to be António Costa's chief of staff, formalizing a relationship that had existed informally – while he was not in the office, Escária accompanied the former prime minister in meetings with European leaders during the negotiations of the European Union's Multiannual Financial Framework and the preparation of the next community framework, through the Development and Cohesion Agency.

In an interview with CNN Portugal after his resignation, António Costa admitted that the incident involving the money found in one of the rooms in his office would have led to his resignation, even if the controversial paragraph in the statement from the Attorney General's Office regarding the criminal investigation into the then Prime Minister had not existed.

Vítor Escária has been a defendant in the Influencer case since November 2023 and, later, he was also named a defendant in another case extracted from this one that investigates an alleged violation of state secrets .