The acquitted deputy of Minister João Galamba, Frederico Pinheiro, accused the Ministry of Infrastructure of wanting to omit information to the TAP Commission of Inquiry about the “preparatory meeting” with the former CEO.
In a statement to the editors, Frederico Pinheiro states that, following the revelations made on April 4 during the hearing of former Executive President (CEO), Christine Ourmières-Widener, in the Parliamentary Investigation Committee of TAP (CPI), João Galamba had a meeting with you to discuss the subject of the preparatory meeting on January 17, on the eve of a hearing by the manager of the parliamentary economics committee.
At that time, deputy Frederico Pinheiro indicated that he had taken notes of the meeting [de 17 de janeiro], which you have recorded on your computer. They summarized what had been discussed at that meeting, as well as at another meeting held the day before.
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According to the statement, he “orally shared his notes, after it became clear that questions had been articulated at that January 17 meeting to be asked by the GPPS [grupo parlamentar do PS] and the TAP CEO’s responses and communication strategy were mentioned”.
According to the acquitted deputy, “it was indicated that, in case of a request from the parliamentary committee of inquiry, the notes would not be shared, as it is an informal document”.
Frederico Pinheiro also disagrees with a statement from the Ministry of Infrastructure on April 6, which shows that the then deputy was present at the aforementioned preparatory meeting.
“However, on April 24, Frederico Pinheiro was informed by the technician Cátia Rosas that the office would respond to the CPI, in the context of a request, that there were no notes from the meeting,” the statement says, adding that “on at that moment, Frederico Pinheiro indicates to the technician that, as he knew, this was incorrect and that, following the communiqué of the Ministry of Infrastructure on April 6, it was likely that Frederico Pinheiro would be called before the CPI and that, at that moment he would be obliged to contradict the information in that answer”, with which he disagreed.
Frederico Pinheiro contacted João Galamba on Tuesday, April 25, making it “clear that the decision they had made not to disclose the existence of the banknotes would have to be reviewed”. “João Galamba had an angry reaction,” the statement read.
The acquitted deputy says that he sent the minister by ‘e-mail’ on Tuesday evening the minutes of the meetings of January 16 and 17, accompanied by a proposal to change the response to the committee of inquiry. “The suggestion was based on the disclosure of the notes taken during the January 17 meeting,” says Frederico Pinheiro.
On Wednesday, João Galamba called Frederico Pinheiro “to inform him that he had been fired,” the note reads.
With regard to the meeting at the center of this controversy, the statement begins by stating that “A preliminary meeting was held in the morning of January 16, 2023, in which the Minister of Infrastructure, João Galamba, then CEO of TAP, participated. , Christine Ourmières-Widener, Frederico Pinheiro, assistant minister, and Manuela Simões, director of the legal department of TAP”, whose aim was “to work out with TAP the information management to be carried out by the CEO during the parliamentary hearing that this week is scheduled for January 18”.
According to Frederico Pinheiro, during this meeting, João Galamba informed the former CEO that a “preparatory meeting for the parliamentary hearing between the PS group and the Ministry of Infrastructure would take place the following day”.
“On that afternoon of January 16, the CEO of TAP communicated by telephone to Deputy Frederico Pinheiro the intention to participate in the preparatory meeting of the following day, between the Ministry of Infrastructure and the GPPS [grupo parlamentar do PS]says the note.
Frederico Pinheiro says he informed the minister in writing of TAP’s intention to participate in the meeting, after obtaining permission to do so.
The assistant to the Minister of Infrastructure Frederico Pinheiro was fired on Wednesday for “behavior incompatible with the duties and responsibilities” inherent in the exercise of his functions, an official source confirms to Lusa.
According to the same reply, “the deputy in question has, as described in the notice to be published in Diário da República, ‘adopted behaviors incompatible with the duties and responsibilities inherent in the exercise of his functions in a ministerial office'” .
Frederico Pinheiro, who was accused of taking a computer containing confidential information belonging to the ministry – which prompted the criminal complaint filed by the government this Friday – justifies the decision to take the computer where he had the documents refer to the meeting, with the aim of doing a “backup”, even to “defend himself in the framework of the Commission of Inquiry”.
updated at 19:28
Source: DN
