“I do not exclude participation if I think that I can be useful to TAP itself,” says Diogo Lacerda Machado about privatization.

Former TAP administrator Diogo Lacerda Machado said Thursday he does not rule out participating in TAP’s privatization process if he believes it could be beneficial for the company, for example with “alternatives to what has been profiled.”

“I am not a member of any interested organization, I have been approached by several – and by the way, I do not see any conflict of interest – I did not accept any of the offers, […] I do not rule out participation if I think I can be useful to TAP itself,” the lawyer for blockade deputy Mariana Mortagua answered in the airline’s commission of inquiry, when asked about a possible participation in the TAP privatization process, which the government intends to carry out.

Lacerda Machado elaborated that this could be useful, such as introducing “some alternatives to what has been profiled”.

“I’m not sure and I’m sure that everything is as good now as it was in 2020, […] I am not sure or sure that what was very good in February 2020, which was about to happen, [seja agora]” said the former non-executive director.

In 2020, before the pandemic, it was reported that the Lufthansa group would be interested in buying TAP.

On Tuesday, former shareholder Humberto Pedrosa confirmed that the deal was close to closing in 2020 and that had the pandemic been delayed another month it would likely have been completed, but did not confirm that it was Lufthansa.

Diogo Lacerda Machado stressed that “alone, TAP cannot last longer.” “It is very complex, everything is consolidated, everything is together, this is a business of volumes, scale, low margins,” he explained.

Asked if he had conversations about TAP with members of the government, the prime minister’s so-called “best friend” said he had not spoken to one of the executives about the airline since 2021, when he left the company. , and he has not spoken to António Costa “since April 9, 2020.”