On Tuesday, the prime minister praised Infrastructure Minister Miguel Pinto Luz, who said he was “strengthened by the excellent work” he had done and noted that the Inspectorate General of Finance’s report on TAP “has no news.”
As he entered a meeting with PSD/Lisbon activists as part of his re-nomination for the party presidency, the media asked Luís Montenegro whether he still had political confidence in the Minister of Infrastructure.
“We are governing the country with the intention of complying with the demands of the entire legislative body and therefore leading this government until August, September or October 2028, expecting to attract all members of the government,” he said.
Faced with persistent demands that the minister not be weakened, as the opposition defended, in order to continue the TAP privatization process, Montenegro responded: “Dr. Miguel Pinto Luz has been strengthened thanks to the excellent work he has done as Minister of Infrastructure and Housing.”
Regarding the IGF report, he considered that “it does not bring anything new compared to other reports” and stressed that it had already been sent by the government “either to the Assembly of the Republic or to the Public Ministry”.
According to an audit released Monday by the SIC and to which Lusa had access, the purchase of TAP by Atlantic Gateway, a consortium of David Neeleman and Humberto Pedrosa, was financed by a $226 million loan from Airbus in exchange for the national airline’s purchase of 53 aircraft from the European planemaker.
Several parties, including the PSD, have filed requests for hearings with Infrastructure Minister Miguel Pinto Luz, who was then Secretary of State for Infrastructure, Transport and Communications in the second government led by Pedro Passos Coelho, which fell after his program was rejected in parliament, but which completed the privatization of TAP in 2015.
The PS called on the prime minister to clarify whether he retains political confidence in Minister Miguel Pinto Luz, who will oversee the privatisation of TAP, saying that because he was involved in a similar process, he is “shrouded in suspicion”.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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