PCP says the deal is “so obvious” it doesn’t justify setting up a commission of inquiry

This Friday, the PCP secretary general considered that the Efacec privatization process was “so obvious” that it did not justify the creation of a commission of inquiry, and expressed fears that the deal would be a “prelude” to what TAP wants to do. .

“The Efacec problem is so obvious, so obvious, that I don’t understand why there is any need to waste time creating a commission of inquiry,” Paulo Raimundo said in a statement to reporters outside the Odivelas medical center in Lisbon.

Chega and the Liberal Initiative have already announced that they will propose the creation of a parliamentary commission of inquiry into the privatization of Efacec, with the PSD also admitting that it will push the proposal forward if the government does not clarify all the details of the deal.

The PKP leader stressed that the last TAP commission of inquiry discussed “everything and a pair of shoes” except the privatization deal, and added that if a commission had been created at Efacec for the same purpose, this would not have been the case. it’s worth “wasting time”.

“There are other entertainments that are more worthwhile. If it’s about finding out about an economic crime going on, maybe it’s worth it. But that’s not the point: I think it’s so obvious and simple that I don’t see the need for serious investigation.” – he repeated.

Paulo Raimundo confirmed that the privatization of Efacec is an “economic and political crime” and “a film that has already been shown” in which the government invests in a company that is “clean, contracted, regulated, capitalized and one of the most important in the world in his sector” – and “gives it to the German group.”

The PKP Secretary General emphasized that the government “invests, cleanses and capitalizes the company, and then takes it and gives it to a German investor who buys it from the company with the company’s money,” noting that this is the same thing. the type of business that was carried out in TAP.

“This is extraordinary. If I had 60 million euros as collateral, I would also buy the company. It’s easy: with other people’s money it’s easy,” he said.

Paulo Raimundo said his main concern was whether the privatization of Efacec was “a harbinger of the deal they want to do with TAP.”

“But that’s it, we will be here. We still believe that we can fight the privatization of TAP, that we can stop this high-profile economic crime, but we’ll see if it happens again,” he said. .

In these statements to journalists, Paulo Raimundo was also asked about a real estate deal involving a PCP work center in Aveiro, which was reported this Thursday by the newspaper Diário de Notícias and which, according to the newspaper, could constitute a crime of illicit financing. replied that “everything is clear.”

“This is public, the PKP reports are public. There are those who want to continue to insist on this issue, I don’t know for what purpose. But everything, all the freedom of investigation… Everything has been clarified and everything is public,” he said.

On Tuesday, the state, through Parpública, sold 100% of Efacec to the German fund Mutares.

Efacec, a company operating in the energy, engineering and mobility sectors with approximately 2,000 employees, was nationalized in 2020, leaving the state owned 71.73% of the company.

The nationalization, presented as temporary, followed a judicial seizure of assets belonging to Angolan businesswoman Isabel dos Santos, who owned most of Efacec’s capital.

On Tuesday, the economy minister said the state would invest a further 160 million euros in Efacec, while the Mutares fund would inject 15 million euros in capital and 60 million euros in guarantees into the company.

The state has already invested €132 million in Efacec, plus a further €85 million in guarantees.