The Bloco de Esquerda (BE) national coordinator said this Monday that the case of alleged corruption in Altice due to real estate transactions is a good indication of the mistake the government will make in privatizing TAP.
Speaking on the sidelines of a visit to the weekly Espinho market in the Aveiro region and the Porto metropolitan area, Mariana Mortagua commented on the resignation submitted this morning by Alexandre Fonseca as the chief executive of the former Portugal Telecom (PT), and currently the largest national telecommunications company.
“We have to learn from what is happening, look at the privatized companies, ask what happened to each of them and learn from that. Perhaps this can give a good idea of why privatizing TAP is a bad idea,” BE MP and Leader of Parliament.
For Mariana Mortagua, “the whole PT situation is a horror story about what happens when one of the most important companies in the country is privatized.” In this context, the current prosecutor’s investigation into the telecommunications company “is the latest episode of this process, during which property belonging to PT itself, Altice itself, was used for personal business and personal enrichment.”
The BE coordinator is hopeful that “justice will be done quickly” but believes there is already a lesson to be learned from this case.
“Portugal Telecom employed thousands of people, had state-of-the-art technology, developed innovative services, and did all of this while it was state-owned. But since privatization, it has become a pawn in the hands of the powerful, whether it be Ricardo Salgado or its more recent international owners like Altice,” he said.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
I’m Sandra Hansen, a news website Author and Reporter for 24 News Reporters. I have over 7 years of experience in the journalism field, with an extensive background in politics and political science. My passion is to tell stories that are important to people around the globe and to engage readers with compelling content.