The PCP requested additional documentation from the Court of Accounts (TdC) and Parpública, since it considers, based on the collection of the TAP investigative commission, that it is possible that “fundamental” documentation was not sent to the privatization audit in 2015 .
“The commission has in its collection the letter from Airbus to David Neeleman dated September 15, 2015, sent to the Commission by Parpública, which is not in the documentation folder sent by Parpública in 2023 [ao TdC]. However, this fact could lead to the conclusion that the Court of Accounts did not receive from Parpública in 2015 a fundamental document of the TAP privatization process”, reads the PCP request, announced by Deputy Bruno Dias, during the audience. with the former Minister of Economy António Pires de Lima.
Additionally, “for some reason that is impossible to determine” only with the collection available, “the documentation sent by Parpública to the Commission in 2023 does not correspond in several points with the index of documents sent to the Court of Auditors in 2015“.
Fernando Pinto with Neeleman before the sale of TAP “would be serious”, but Pires de Lima doubts and asks deputies for certainty
Thus, “in order to clarify a set of doubts that have arisen and that persist in the work” of the investigation commission, the PCP asked the TdC “to send a nominal and perceptible list of all existing documents and files on the privatization of TAP”, of “all the documents and files sent by the president of Parpública, Pedro Pinto, on December 4, 2015” and the record of shipments of additional documentation sent to the ToC on the reprivatization of TAP.
The PCP also asks the ToC”to clarify in writing if it has received and/or made requests for clarification from Parpública regarding the TAP capitalization process and the relationship with Airbus”.
Regarding Parpública, the PCP requested the sending of the “index of the documentation and files that it sent to the commission [de inquérito] and that it sent to the Court of Auditors in 2015”, the “written clarification on all the requests it received and the response on the TAP capitalization process from 2015 to the present” and that it resend all the documents related to the Airbus Funds.
At the Pires de Lima hearing, the former minister was asked if he knew of what was then described as an “administrative error” of the entry of the former president of the TAP, Fernando Pinto, into Atlantic Gateway before completing the privatization, in 2015.
“On November 4 or 6, the engineer Fernando Pinto presented himself as a member of the Atlantic Gateway management and, immediately, asked for his resignation because it corresponded to an administrative error,” said Pires de Lima, assuming that, despite an error, it was “unfortunate, because in reality the ANAC [Autoridade Nacional da Aviação Civil] He wanted Fernando Pinto to become part of the management of Atlantic Gateway once the privatization was completed”.
During the interrogation of PSD deputy Paulo Rios de Oliveira, the former official said that he could only “congratulate the current socialist government for being so committed to the privatization of TAP,” noting, however, that the circumstances are very different from those of 2015. .
TAP “was not harmed” with Airbus Funds, says Pires de Lima. “I do not believe in the collusion of Neeleman and Pedrosa to deceive the State”
Underlining the “very positive results” that the airline has achieved, the issue of TAP’s privatization returned to question time by Chega deputy Filipe Melo, considering Pires de Lima that “it is precisely at a time when the company is on this positive trajectory that one should try to sell.”
“In this sense, all people who have had governmental responsibilities, end up concluding the same thing”, he said, recalling that a few years ago António Costa “defended that it had to be public“.
However, in the opinion of Pires de Lima, after the rulers “have been in office for a few years, studying files, they come to the conclusion that it is preferable for TAP to have a private partner than to belong exclusively to public capital.” .
Asked about ME Brasil, the former official considered that the former administrator of TAP Lacerda Machado “is a bit alone” in her opinion regarding this operation.
Doing “the autopsy of this business”, Pires de Lima said that it cost “a billion euros”, expressing himself according to former PS leaders such as Mário Centeno, Pedro Nuno Santos or João Leão because “the business in Brazil was very negative for TAP”.
Asked why the government of which he was a part had not resolved the problem, Pires de Lima explained that his executive’s priority was to “privatize TAP,” which would transfer this problem from ME Brazil “to the new shareholding structure.”
Source: Observadora
