The former planning minister defended in parliament on Tuesday that after TAP’s privatization, 100% of the profits went to the private sector and all the risk to the state.
“[…] The privatization was carried out in such a way that 100% of the profit was for the private sector, but 100% of the risk was for the state,” said Pedro Marquez, speaking at the parliamentary committee on economy, public works, planning. and housing.
At that time, the PSD/CDS government had already ceased to function after the rejection of its program by the Assembly of the Republic.
The former ruler, summoned to the Assembly of the Republic at the request of the SDP, stressed that in 2015 there were attempts to “hurriedly complete” the privatization of the TAR before the government came to power.
According to the former minister, 61% of TAP was sold outright, “which gave the private sector the right to buy out the rest of the company in a short period of time”, thereby preserving its integrity.
“Mistakes in the privatization process were, however, very large, and the consequences for the Portuguese state and the national economy would have been enormous if the process had not been changed,” he added.
Pedro Marquez also mentioned that David Nileman, one of the company’s private shareholders, never kept his TAP project secret, which was similar to what he did with his previous companies – valuing them so he could later start selling them.
Also on November 12, as he recalled, a letter of guarantee was signed, which obliged the state to redeem TAP in case the private sector failed to make any payment to the bank.
For the former minister, this letter could be classified by the competent authorities as state aid.
On the other hand, the private sector could owe the company “without limit”, as a result of which the state would be obliged to buy out the company and take full responsibility.
“It was very strange that I saw the secretary of state for infrastructure, transport and communications, who completed the privatization, the current vice president of the PSD, engineer Miguel Pinto Luz, declare here […] that he did not sign any consolation letter and does not even know what it is about,” he stressed.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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