According to the Correio da Manhã, the CGD has forgiven Carlos Pereira and five other people about 66 thousand euros of company debts worth more than 181 thousand euros. The PS deputy denies any debt forgiveness, but has decided to leave the TAP investigation commission.
The socialist deputy Carlos Pereira denied this Friday that the Caixa Geral de Depósitos (CGD) had pardoned him 66 thousand euros in the payment of a loan to a company for which he was a guarantor.
“It is false that there was a pardon, it is false that there was incompatibility in my participation in the commission of inquiry in the CGD in 2016 and 2017, or even favoritism in relation to this pardon. It’s a serious accusation,” the deputy defended himself in parliament, in statements to journalists.
“The debt was not mine, I was the guarantor. Between 2016 and 2021, efforts were made with the bank to resolve the dispute. The guarantors made efforts with the bank’s lawyers to have the debt paid, but the bank in the middle of the litigation went to court confrontation. The bank did not grant any debt forgiveness and the value of the debt is determined by removing the accrued interest and the interest that resulted from the CGD’s inaction when the guarantors wanted to buy the debt. The operated values have a legal basis and the guarantors are paying,” clarified the deputy.
“I had no debt. A guarantor is not the owner of the debt. It is the nature of the guarantee,” he reiterated.
Asked if he was still able to continue as vice-president of the PS bank, Carlos Pereira referred the answer to the parliamentary leader. Eurico Brilhante Dias refused to comment.
In this Friday’s edition, Correio da Manhã reported that the CGD had granted Carlos Pereira a partial debt write-off and that the socialist deputy was one of the six people executed by Caixa, as guarantors of BKAT Consulting, for the collection of a debt of that company.
CGD, in response to questions from CM, clarified that “made the agreement to pay the debt for the amounts it considered at the time judicially and legally required”. Carlos Pereira, for his part, stated that “the bank did not grant any debt forgiveness”. He added: “The amount settled corresponded to the original amount owed, plus only the interest that had not been prescribed, not considering those generated by the CGD’s inaction”.
Caixa clarifies this situation in a complaint sent to the Court of Funchal, where the enforcement procedure took place, regarding the remuneration requested by the enforcement agent. In this document, to which CM had access, the CGD states: “Prior to the filing of the enforcement action, negotiations had already begun between the enforcement agent [CGD] and the defendants, which continued after the filing of the action and culminated in the approval in March 2022 of a solution for the out-of-court settlement of part of the debt, with the cancellation of the remainder. ”
PS deputy Carlos Pereira leaves TAP investigation commission
On Thursday evening, Carlos Pereira announced that he was resigning from all his duties as coordinator of PS deputies in the TAP investigation commission. In a written statement sent to the Lusa agency, the deputy justified the decision with the need to “protect the results to be obtained in the commission of inquiry and to safeguard the higher interests of the Socialist Party”.
The still coordinator of the Socialist deputies in the TAP investigation claims that the news “that have been repeated in recent weeks only contribute to deepen an unjustified climate of suspicion”.
“I have decided to ask the president of the PS parliamentary group to relieve me of my duties as coordinator of the socialist deputies on the parliamentary commission of inquiry into the political management of TAP, as well as my presence on the commission,” he writes.
Carlos Pereira assures Correio da Manhã that he has given “all the clarifications” requested and denies any favor.
“There has never been any incompatibility in the full exercise of my activity as a deputy, nor any preferential treatment from Caixa Geral de Depósitos,” he says, promising further clarification on the Correio da Manhã news for “early morning” today.
News updated at 10h15 with the reaction of Carlos Pereira
