[7] The Cessna 421A Golden Eagle, a private aircraft chartered by da Costa, crashed shortly after take-off from Lisbon Portela Airport.

[1] For the 1995 re-opening of the judicial investigation, the victims' bodies were exhumed, and a forensic report concluded that there had probably not been an explosion on the aircraft, although the possibility was not ruled out.

[1] A private prosecution launched by victims' relatives was declared time-barred in 1996, with the exception of one alleged conspirator, L.R., who was detained in Brazil on other matters, leading the 15-year time limit to be suspended in his case.

[1] In 2001, a lawyer for relatives of the victims, Ricardo Sá Fernandes, published a book arguing that the target of the assassination was newly appointed Defence Minister da Costa due to his knowledge of arms deals with Iran obtained from his new position.

In 2004, the 8th parliamentary inquiry into the affair, headed by Christian Democratic Member of Parliament Nuno Melo concluded in its unanimous final report that the incident had been caused by an explosive device on the aircraft.

[9] In 2006, former security agent José Esteves claimed to have manufactured an explosive device intended for an attack on da Costa's plane.

He said the intention had been for the device to cause a fire prior to take-off, permitting the occupants to evacuate safely, but giving a "warning" to presidential candidate António Soares Carneiro.