The parliamentary leader of the PS, Eurico Brilhante Dias, this Thursday accused the PSD of putting “a number” with 14 more questions to the prime minister about the alleged government interference in banking and “following in the footsteps” from Chega.
“It is with great difficulty that we see this PSD position. [Chega] about setting up a possible committee on this specific subject. The PS will vote against,” said Eurico Brilhante Dias.
The deputy answered questions from journalists about the fact that today the PSD had sent 14 more questions to the Prime Minister about the alleged interference in Banco de Portugal for the benefit of Angolan businesswoman Isabel dos Santos, and also in the sale and settlement of Banif, as this will be the “last chance” to clear things up.
For the party leader of the PS bank, this initiative means that the “PPD/PSD is constantly following in the footsteps, the line, the appointment, of the extreme right in parliament”.
“And today I had to come here, because I don’t know how this final committee will vote tomorrow, do a small number to explain that after all, I have more questions to ask,” he charged.
With regard to Banif, Eurico Brilhante Dias, who was the rapporteur of the Commission of Inquiry into the resolution process of this bank in the penultimate legislature, said that “some personalities of the right in Portugal seem to have to rewrite the history of Banif”.
Banif seems to be a thorn in the side of some key players of Portuguese political life, even some who now seem to want to return, but Banif – the Portuguese do not forget – was on the verge of liquidation by the PSD/CDS government when pushed forward in a big way with eight restructuring plans in Brussels failed,” he said.
For Brilhante Dias, “if Banif depositors saved their deposits, it was because the PS government, in an emergency, practically in less than a month, managed to complete a process together with the Bank of Portugal that the very PPD government was open – PSD/CDS”.
With regard to Eurobic and BPI, the parliamentary leader insisted that the Prime Minister had “already reacted and it was clear that it was the government that determined, from the Council of Ministers, and with a decree promulgated by His Excellency the President of the Republic , which removed, unshielded, the statutes of BPI and thereby enabled a necessary reconfiguration for the stability of the Portuguese financial system”.
“And it is also known that in that week there was an intervention by the then governor of Banco de Portugal [Carlos Costa]an intervention that we do not yet know at all,” he said, referring to the fact that the PS has already asked the Banco de Portugal for information about this intervention.
The Social Democrats had already sent 12 questions to António Costa on November 23 on these topics, with part of the PSD questions focusing on the government’s alleged interference in Banco de Portugal, following Carlos Costa’s allegations that in the book “The Governor”.
At stake, according to the former governor and in a version contested by the prime minister (who has already announced a lawsuit against Carlos Costa for “false and abusive” statements), is a call from António Costa on April 12, 2016 in which the prime minister told him to reportedly that “one cannot mistreat the daughter of the president of a country friendly to Portugal”, in what he understood to be a request to the Bank of Portugal to pay Angolan businesswoman Isabel dos Santos (daughter of the then president of Angola José Eduardo dos Santos) of the BIC administration.
PS accuses PSD of being complicit in a corporate asset purchase
The PS accused the former PSD/CDS government of being complicit in the fact that the purchase of TAP was made with funds from the airline itself, defending that this was “not privatised, but offered” to David Neelman.
Eurico Brilhante Dias announced that the party will file a request to ask the Ministry of Infrastructure about the contract and how it came about, “between the PSD/CDS government and the entity then led by the aviation sector entrepreneur David Neelman”. .
“It is known today that the PSD / CDS government was aware of the operation and, knowing about the operation, was complicit in the fact that the capitalization of TAP came about with its own resources,” the leader of the PS accused -Bank .
At issue is the news brought forward by the newspaper ECO that the acquisition of TAP in 2015 was carried out by former shareholder David Neeleman with money from the airline itself.
Speaking after the weekly bank meeting, Eurico Brilhante Dias referred to “new news confirming that TAP was self-capitalized during the privatization by the PSD/CDS government”, led by Pedro Passos Coelho at the time.
“It is known that in the design of the operation it was always envisaged that TAP would be capitalized with its own funds through a contract signed by Airbus and the amendment of that contract. And it is known today that, finally, at the limit, – because there was suspicion of Parpública and even the board of directors of TAP, but in particular of Parpública – this process was removed from the privatization contract, although it happened later,” he said.
According to the Socialist deputy, “it is still surprising that this particular deal came out of the contract signed that morning between the Portuguese government and the gentleman and carried out”.
“And the PS government, when it took office and changed the privatization rate from 61% to 50%, the calculated value was solely of the 10 million euros paid by the entrepreneur, by the entity that acquired in this case, the 50% of TAP. The PS government did not know, did not know, this fact was hushed up, it was clearly overruled, carried out in breach of contract, but with full knowledge of the PSD / CDS government at the time,” he opined.
According to the socialist parliamentary leader, “TAP financed the shareholder to carry out its capitalization”.
When asked whether a parliamentary commission of inquiry into the privatization process is being considered, Brilhante Dias refuses to anticipate scenarios. Secretary of State Sergio Monteiro.
The PS also wants to hear in parliament the former secretary of state and current vice president of the PSD Miguel Pinto Luz, the former secretary of state for finance Isabel Castelo Branco and the president of Parpública Pedro Pinto.
In February, ECO newspaper reported that four days after Atlantic Gateway, a consortium of David Neeleman and Humberto Pedrosa, acquired a 61% stake in TAP on June 12, 2015, the DGN company, also led by Neeleman, signed a memorandum of understanding with Airbus.
According to ECO news, the memorandum in question implied that TAP would abandon a contract with Airbus for the ‘leasing’ of 12 A350 aircraft and purchase 53 aircraft instead. ECO states that the amount TAP will pay for the 53 aircraft in question is about $254 million above market value.
The paper also adds that, “according to data from the Atlantic Gateway,” Airbus would “provide capital loans to the DGN, amounting to $226.75 million, to be channeled through the Atlantic Gateway to TAP,” which corresponds to the “exact value of the largest tranche of deliveries that would later be placed on the airline”.
Source: DN
