Eurico Brilhante Dias stressed that the PS decided “with state sense” to wait until 5pm today to take these political initiatives, especially so that none of its political intervention could be confused with a possible devaluation of TAP.
“Until the last minute, the PS wanted to respect the period for the presentation of expressions of interest by the various interested parties in the privatization of TAP. But, during the week, something very serious happened, which was the intervention of the Public Prosecutor’s Office with searches, not only of the TAP headquarters, but also of other agents, with defendants even being constituted”, he pointed out.
In an allusion to the political situation of the Minister of Infrastructure, Miguel Pinto Luz, Eurico Brilhante Dias considered what is happening as “particularly serious, because the person currently overseeing the TAP privatization process is the Secretary of State who then signed the privatization on behalf of the Portuguese Government”.
“Everything was done in 2015 by a government that was already known to have fallen in the Assembly of the Republic, a government that was out of office and a government that, even so, delivered a letter of comfort, signed by the then Secretary of State Pinto Luz, from whom it bought TAP. Today, it is known that TAP, most likely, was acquired using its own funds in a deal with Airbus”, he pointed out.
Eurico Brilhante Dias later said that the PS understands that the clarifications provided so far, particularly after the report from the General Inspectorate of Finance, “not only were not sufficient, but the latest developments increase many doubts regarding this business”.
“The PS will take two initiatives: The first, after the budget process, will call Minister Pinto Luz to the parliamentary Infrastructure Committee, asking him directly if he understands that he continues to meet the conditions to oversee the privatization of TAP; the second, if the Prime Minister, Luís Montenegro, in such an important and sensitive process, considers that he has a Minister of Infrastructure who can continue to oversee this Government initiative, this Republic initiative”, highlighted Eurico Brilhante Days.