Criticism of the deal struck in 2015 between the government of Passos Coelho and businessmen David Neeleman and Humberto Pedrosa was the subject of the day at the Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry into the Custody of the Political Management of TAP (TAP). Doubts about the legality of the Airbus funds and signed consolation letters dictating that the state should buy back the company in the event of private sector non-compliance led to the sale to the Atlantic Gateway consortium, which owns 61% of the capital. from TAP under fire.
António Pires de Lima, former economy minister of the PSD, who spearheaded the privatization of TAP in 2015, assured this Wednesday the 7th that the consolation letters did not pose any threat to the state and that they were a bargaining mechanism through which the government the sale could close.
“It is not true that the State was at risk of the entire debt of TAP. The combination of the potestative law with the letters to the banks guaranteed the State that if it had to re-enter the business, it would re-enter the business 25 million euros better than on the date of privatization”explained in the Parliamentary Inquiry Committee Political Guardianship Board TAP (CPI).
And he added that the surveillance of the two partners was strict. “There was a very strong incentive for new shareholders not to default. Buyers were required to keep the EUR 227 million capitalization with TAP. If they failed to comply, they would lose ownership of the company and EUR 227 million in lose additional installments”orphan.
“The TAP Economic and Financial Stability Agreement provides for the state’s potentative right in terms of very exhaustive mechanisms and control. There was an obligation to [os acionistas] have reserve accounts and note the evolution of the debt”said the former governor.
Yesterday, former Minister of Infrastructure and Housing, Pedro Nuno Santos, stated on the CPI that the comfort letters “had practical consequences, with the State committing itself to buy back TAP, i.e. the State was responsible not only for the underlying debt, of 600 million euros, but for all the debt incurred in the meantime”he charged, assuring that this is “not a detail, it’s what made the deal happen, a bad deal”.
Pires Lima confronted the statements of Pedro Nuno Santos and repeated what he had already said at the beginning of this hearing. “It is the result of ignorance to be sympathetic,” he insisted.
The CPI ends next week with hearings of former Secretary of State for Infrastructure, Hugo Santos Mendes, Pedro Nuno Santos and Finance Minister, Fernando Medina.
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Source: DN
