Galamba says it was TAP who asked to participate in the meeting before the CEO’s departure for parliament.

The Ministry of Infrastructure said this Thursday that it was informed on January 16 that TAP was interested in attending the next day’s meeting with the PS parliamentary group and that Joao Galamba “had no objection.”

“The Minister of Infrastructure was informed that the TAP expressed interest in participating in a meeting with the PS parliamentary group on the afternoon of January 16,” the ministry said in a statement.

Emphasizing that this is a common practice aimed at “exchanging communications”, the minister’s office added that “the Minister of Infrastructure did not object to TAP’s participation in the meeting scheduled by the Administrative Region for Parliamentary Affairs on January 17, and his cabinet acted accordingly.”

“In accordance with the Rules of Procedure of the Assembly of the Republic and in accordance with parliamentary practice and the practice of all parliamentary groups, meetings between deputies, members of the government, heads of state administration or state companies are general and are intended for the exchange of information,” the same note says.

remember, that cm news this thursday thatHello JJoao Galamba, already Minister of Infrastructure, who forced the presence of Christine Urmier-Widener at the meeting. with the parliamentary group of the Socialist Party (PS), which preceded the presence of the Director General of the TAR in the Standing Committee on Economic Affairs on January 17, 2023. cman e-mail sent by the Galamba Ministry to adviser Ana Catarina Mendez says bluntly: “Christina is coming too.”

At the meeting, which took place at 12:00 on January 17, on the eve of the parliamentary hearing of the TAP Executive President Christine Urmier-Widener, the Minister of Infrastructure was not present, and the infrastructure area was represented by the Deputy Frederico Pinheiro and the technical specialist Katia Rosas explained to the government.

The ministry also recalled that the executive president of the TAR at a hearing on Tuesday at the commission of inquiry “testified that at this meeting on January 17 she never felt any attempts at conditioning or instrumentalization,” saying that she was more of a “briefing,” ” than to a strategic meeting,” and did not remember “any combination of questions.”

Christine Urmier-Widener on Tuesday confirmed the Liberal Initiative’s (IL) complaint about a meeting with the PS parliamentary group on the eve of moving to parliament in January to explain compensation to former administrator Alexandra Reis.

MP Bernardo Blanco of Illinois wanted to know if there was any combination of questions and answers in that meeting in clarifications to be given to the Assembly of the Republic, which the manager said she does not remember.

“I think the idea was to ask questions about the process, and I answered those questions,” the still executive president said, adding that according to her agenda, the said meeting was attended not by members of the government, but by advisers. and leaders. cabinet members of the government.

Asked who initiated the meeting, Christine Hourmière-Widener replied that, if she remembers correctly, it came from the Office of the Minister of Infrastructure, who at that time was already Joao Galamba.

In December, Alexandra Reis took over as Secretary of State for the Treasury, and then a dispute erupted over the compensation she received when she left the state-owned airline, leading to a government reshuffle, including the departure of Pedro Nuno Santos. who was replaced by Joao Galamba.