This Wednesday, TAP’s commission of inquiry will hear former Infrastructure Minister Pedro Marquez, who held the position between 2015 and 2019, when the state took back a majority stake in the company following privatization.
Pedro Márquez, who goes to Parliament for the second day in a row to explain TAP, was Minister of Infrastructure from November 26, 2015 to February 18, 2019, when he left the government to lead the PS in the European elections, being replaced by Pedro Nuno Santos.
During his term, the state regained its majority position in TAP’s shareholder structure following the privatizations carried out by the previous PSD/CDS-PP government led by Pedro Passos Coelho.
When the PS government (supported in Parliament by BE, PCP and PEV) came into power, negotiations began with the Atlantic Gateway consortium owned by David Nieleman and Humberto Pedrosa, who won the privatization tender and acquired 61% of the capital. airline, which at the time was run by Fernando Pinto.
In August 2016, the Office of Competition (AdC) approved a merger with the company, which thus became state-controlled, owning 50% of the airline but retaining private management.
In April, former minister Pedro Márquez said the government’s buyout of TAP had been approved by the Accounts Chamber and accused the PSD of throwing “smoke screens” on the company’s “disastrous privatization” in response to the prime minister’s demand for clarification from the socialist Democrats on an alleged agreement between the government and TAP private shareholder in 2017, reported by Correio da Manhã, that would have allowed businessman David Nieleman to receive 55 million euros when he left the company.
“The entire operation to buy the majority from the state was fully confirmed by the Accounts Chamber. There is no secret document, there is only one operation, confirmed by the Accounts Chamber, ”- former Minister of Planning and Infrastructure. Lucy assured.
Pedro Márquez also felt that it was SDP Vice President Miguel Pinto Luz who should clarify how, when he was part of the SDP/SDS-PP government, “he supported the private sector 100%, in which all the risk was with the state and all the profits , if any, belonged to a private individual.”
At the time, it was the PS government that had to “put an end to this 100% approval signed by Dr. Pinto Luz and the PSD/CDS government,” the former governor also assured.
According to news from Correio da Manhã, in 2017, TAP’s original 2015 direct sale agreement was amended to find that the $226 million that Atlantic Gateway (a consortium made up of shareholders David Nieleman and Portuguese businessman Humberto Pedrosa ) introduced into the company would have to stay with the air carrier for 30 years.
However, according to the newspaper, in June 2017, António Costa’s government guaranteed Atlantic Gateway the right to receive funds before the end of a 30-year period in the event of blocking or non-compliance with Parpública, which had concentrated his shares. state in TAP.
On Tuesday, Pedro Marquez was heard before the Commission for the Economy, Public Works, Planning and Housing on the PSD’s request on the situation of TAP in the period 2015-2023.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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