Inspectors of the National Unit for Combating Corruption of the Judicial Police (PJ) held on Friday searched the headquarters of TAP, next to Lisbon Airport, and the Parpública facilities, holding public aggregating the shares of the State companies, as is the case of the carrier itself. The proceedings were officially confirmed by the Attorney General’s Office (PGR), which issued a statement shortly before 17h on Friday.
At issue are crime suspects on the purchase of TAP Maintenance and Engineering Brazil (former VEM), confirms the note. The PGR said that, in this survey, are being investigated “ maladministration crimes, economic participation in business, influence trafficking, aggravated fraud, corruption and money laundering.” So far, the statement said, “the process has not made defendants.” According to the PUBLIC found the survey will have been open for about a year and a half.
TAP entered the capital of aircraft maintenance company in 2005 and was 100% in 2007, when he bought the position of Geocapital, owned by businessman Stanley Ho Macanese. Geocapital had then as Diogo Lacerda Machado administrator, the man who negotiated the agreement between the government of António Costa and the shareholders of Atlantic Gateway – David Neeleman and Humberto Pedrosa – to change the privatization deal, even without any contractual relationship with the state.
President of TAP, Fernando Pinto, was heard by prosecutors in late 2014 as part of another process, a the various pending in the National Anti-Corruption Unit involving the carrier. And since then the cross-examination – is not known in what capacity was feita- happened after they made the first search in the airline’s facility in mid-2013 and had been heard people with information on the management of operator handling Groundforce, the purchase of maintenance unit of Brazil and the failed attempt to sell the company to German Efromovich. Movements that emerged after an anonymous tip had reached the PJ.
In October 2014, The Economic Daily noticiava this business and cited orders that show that the purchase will not be counted as authorized by the Government of the time, led by José Sócrates. The Secretary of State for Treasury and Finance at the time, Carlos Costa Pina, referred the case to the Finance Inspectorate General, understanding that the explanations of TAP for the payment of a premium of 20% were unclear point in the paper . The airline assured then that “the whole process was accompanied by direct authority, meriting their agreement”
Maintenance and Engineering Brazil (or M & E Brazil)., Which Fernando Pinto always considered to be a strategic asset in the company’s expansion into that country, it has been insufficient since the acquisition also brought a heavy legacy, which has penalized the accounts of TAP year after year:. tax debts and the risks associated with processes driven by workers.
in January last year, the administration of TAP provided to get to September with profits of 34 million euros, but the slippage was such that the group arrived in the third quarter with losses of 63.3 million – an increase of 41.6 million compared to 2013. at this point, only the loss-making maintenance unit in Brazil represented 27.4 million loss in the final result, despite improved over the previous year. the largest deviation fell to the aviation business, instead of the positive EUR 71.5 million expected, generated a loss of 27.7 million.
officer Source TAP declined to confirm the occurrence of the search and said, “to be a situation of information request, TAP will work as in other investigations.” Parpública already confirmed the steps. “We confirm that we were the target of searches,” said Publico official source holding public.
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