BE says government should explain its interest in ‘mini-participation’ in CTT

The BE coordinator on Thursday said the government, including the prime minister, must explain the purchase of CTT shares and interest in a “mini stake” in the company, pointing out the “unconscionability” of the right to continue to involve blockers in the process.

At the end of a visit to the Escola Secundária José Gomes Ferreira in Lisbon, Mariana Mortagua was once again asked about the controversy surrounding the instruction given by the previous government to Parpública to purchase shares of CTT on the orders of the then Minister of Finance. , João Leão, an operation about which nothing was known until the news appeared in the journal Jornal Económico this week.

“Firstly, it was important for the government to explain what this purchase operation was, what interest the state has in having a mini-0.2% stake in STT, which does not guarantee public control, which does not serve any purpose and that this was not understood , why the package was bought or why it was kept secret all these years,” he argued.

According to Mariana Mortagua, if it is not Pedro Nuno Santos, the then Minister of Infrastructure, “who can explain this” (the day before he denied that he gave instructions to buy shares of CTT), then it must be the then Minister of Finance João Leão. “who takes care of the Public and can explain.”

“Prime Minister [António Costa] remains the same. You will probably know why the stake in CTT was purchased and why it is worth nothing and has no significance from the point of view of public control over CTT, but these are explanations that I cannot give, the Government will have to give that. .. them,” he challenged.

The leader of the bloc assured that this “issue was not discussed with the Left Bloc,” as initially reported, and that “the purchase of participation was not reported” to the party.

“The Left Bloc never knew about the existence of this participation, since the Left Bloc could not demand the purchase of this participation in exchange for approving the budget, because it did not approve the budget. The Left Bloc voted against this budget,” he emphasized. .

According to Mortagua, “this whole story is illogical, it is factually incorrect, and there is no reason to continue it except in bad faith.”

“Only bad faith justifies continuing to tell a story that systematically contradicts all the facts,” he criticized, referring to right-wing parties.

The leader of the bloc has no doubt that “KTT must be public” and “must return to the hands of the people,” but said that “this cannot be done without the participation of 0.2%.”

The journal Jornal Económico reported on Wednesday that the previous government, without disclosing it, instructed Parpública to buy CTT shares on the orders of then-Finance Minister João Leão.

In Parliament, PS Secretary General Pedro Nuno Santos denied that he had given instructions to the Ministry of Finance or Parpública to purchase CTT shares while he was Minister of Infrastructure, and sent clarifications on this matter to the government.

In its statement, Parpublique asserts that “the purchase of shares of CTT, carried out before October 2021, took place in accordance with legal requirements,” saying that this was done on the orders of the then Minister of Finance João Leão and with the prior opinion of UTAM – Technical Unit for Monitoring and monitoring of the public business sector.