The Chegi leader wants to hear the finance minister in parliament to find out whether the state, like it did with CTT, bought shares in other companies in order to “satisfy BE and PCP.”
“Today we have a strong suspicion that similar deals on the part of CTT may have existed in many others without our knowledge and therefore the country has a right to know whether PS, as a way of conducting political negotiations, has started investing money in companies to satisfy BE and PCP,” Andre Ventura told reporters.
Speaking at a meeting with businessmen in Lisbon, President Chegi said that he would demand the presence of Fernando Medina in the Assembly of the Republic even before its dissolution and, if necessary, mandatory, so that the minister could clarify “that No. There have been other similar transactions in recent years in within the framework of government intervention.”
“This may just be the first stone of many hidden things that the socialist government is doing,” said Andre Ventura, who on Wednesday already announced that he will move forward with a potential (mandatory) debate and a request for a hearing from the secretary general and deputy PS Pedro Nuno Santos and former BE leader Catarina Martins on the purchase of CTT shares by Parpública.
On Thursday, the prime minister said the government’s purchase of STT shares, decided by the previous government, was done “out of an abundance of caution” to ensure the continuation of the public service until the concession was renewed.
According to António Costa, the acquisition of shares was made “between August and October 2021”, but ultimately the stake remained at 0.24%, which is a “absolutely residual position” in the company.
For Andre Ventura, despite these explanations from the CEO, it remained unclear why the state was spending money to buy shares that “create neither public control nor any management control” over CTT.
“If these are not political negotiations, then I don’t know what are political negotiations,” said the Chegi leader, considering that “the most serious thing” was that the reports did not mention Parpública’s acquisition of the shares in question.
“We may be faced with an attempt to hide information from public opinion, to withhold information as a bargaining chip in negotiations between the parties,” he believes.
“Was this only in STT or were there other companies where this happened? We want to get a full report on these investments so that parliament can carry out this analysis before dissolution,” he said.
The purchase of CTT shares by Parpública, following a decision of the previous government, was reported on Tuesday by the Jornal Económico magazine.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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