The left bloc demanded on Tuesday that parliamentary hearings be held on Infrastructure and Housing Minister Miguel Pinto Luz and former Finance Minister María Luis Albuquerque as part of the Inspectorate General of Finance (IGF) report on TAP.
The statement was made by the coordinator of the Bloc de Esquerda, Mariana Mortágua, at a press conference at the party’s headquarters in Lisbon, who specified that the debate in the standing committee would be proposed at the next leaders’ conference on the morning of September 11 – scheduled for the afternoon of the same day – at TAP, in the presence of Minister Miguel Pinto Luz.
“We have a minister in charge of the TAP portfolio who was the secretary of state responsible for the destructive privatisation, the contract that may be invalid, which allowed TAP to pay itself $227 million (…), this is the minister who is currently managing the TAP process and its privatisation, and that is why it is very important that he goes to parliament taking on the responsibilities of the past,” he said.
On Tuesday, the Bloc de Esquerda sent a request to the President of the Assembly of the Republic, José Pedro Aguiar-Branco, proposing a debate on the situation in TAP with the presence of Pinto Luz.
The Left Bloc will submit a request to parliament to hear María Luis Albuquerque, who was Minister of State and Minister of Finance in 2015, before the Budget and Finance Committee, the party explained to Lusa.
Asked if the former minister, now chosen by the government as European Commissioner, had the conditions to continue her candidacy for the post of European chief executive, Mariana Mortágua said she had “no more” the conditions to move forward even before the IGF report data emerged on the Portuguese airline.
“Maria Luis Albuquerque is the biggest representative of the revolving door between the financial world and public companies. I can repeat the resume that you know so well: she created swap contracts at REFER, negotiated contracts at Morgan Stanley when she was a minister, and then got a job at Morgan Stanley. He implemented austerity policies, bankrupted thousands of companies, managed the bankruptcy of Baniff…”, – listed the BE coordinator.
According to Mortagua, “the fact that María Luis Albuquerque is a candidate for the European Commission is a disgrace to the country, and it is clear that this report only adds another element to the conclusion and assessment reached.”
The IGF report on TAP said Atlantic Gateway, a consortium of David Neeleman and Humberto Pedrosa, acquired 61% of TAP’s equity, SGPS, “committed to capitalising it through additional capital payments, of which US$226.75 million (MUSD) was made through partner DGN Corporation (DGN) using funds received from Airbus.”
The government has already sent the report of the Inspectorate General of Finance (IGF) on TAP to the Ministry of State (MP) after receiving it last week, Infrastructure and Housing Minister Miguel Pinto Luz announced on Tuesday.
The infrastructure minister, who was state secretary during the privatization of TAP in 2015, also said after the publication of the General Inspectorate of Finance report that the legitimacy of his current functions lies with the prime minister.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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