Lacerda Machado denies invitation to the chairman of the TAP – Observer

Diogo Lacerda Machado denies having been invited for chairman (non-executive chairman) of TAP. The newspaper Echo reported this Friday that the attorney shall be appointed by the Government to this position, but, contacted by the Observer, Lacerda Machado denied it: "I Am in Bissau, I do not know anything of what you are talking about. I don’t know anything about it. I wasn’t invited".

The Ministry of Planning and Infrastructure, which has oversight of the company, also does not confirm the indication and, in response to the Observer, refers to the same that it’s "a speculation, uninformed".

According to the Newspaper Echo, the Government should indicate the lawyer, who has participated in several negotiations with private in the name of the Executive, to the chairman of TAP, in accordance with the agreement signed in may 2015 between the State and the private shareholders of the company.

Lacerda Machado was the one who António Costa has entrusted the process of "renationalisation" of the TAP. The friend and counselor of the prime minister was the intermediary in a negotiation process between the Government and the private consortium Gateway we redesigned the terms of the privatisation of TAP, the consummation by the Executive of the PSD/CDS on top of the legislative elections of 2015. Since then, Lacerda Machado participated in the negotiation of a solution to the grievances of the BES/GES, announced at the end of last year by António Costa. The office of the prime minister eventually close a contract for the provision of services with the lawyer and this contract has now been renewed for a further six months.

The State shall have the right to appoint the non-executive chairman (chairman) of the TAP, so that would again be the largest shareholder of the company, pursuant to the terms of the memorandum of understanding signed last year with the private shareholders David Neeleman and Humberto Pedrosa. But the appointment to this position will only move forward when it is accomplished the operation by which the State will buy back the capital that allows it to have 50% of TAP. Currently it has 39%. For now, nobody confirms that the nominee will Lacerda Machado.

This operation, whose realisation still depends on the renegotiation of the bank debt of the carrier, should happen at the same time that the public offer of 5% of the share capital of TAP, reserved for employees, which should still take some time to set in motion.

Lacerda Machado had already been involved with TAP in business is especially controversial in that it involved the purchase of SHIPS, the maintenance company of the old Varig. The acquisition was made in partnership with Stanley Ho that after you left, leaving the carrier in Portuguese to assume alone the loss of the brazilian company.

When it was called last year to the Parliament to explain their involvement in the affairs of the State and in the negotiations representing the Government, Lacerda Machado defended the advantages of this operation.