The PCP today proposed setting up a parliamentary committee to investigate the privatization of ANA Airports in 2013, during a PSD/CDS government, considering that it was “one of the most ruinous deals for the state in living memory”.
At a press conference in the Portuguese Parliament, PCP MP António Filipe said that, in 2013, it had been announced that ANA was worth 3.08 billion euros, but it was sold to the French group Vinci for 1.128 billion euros, “just over a third of what had been announced”.
António Filipe also pointed out that the sale was concluded after “a 50-year concession contract for the entire national airport network had been signed with ANA, then still a public company, for 1.2 billion euros”.
“The sale of ANA Airports to the multinational Vinci has turned out to be one of the most ruinous deals for the state in living memory, as evidenced by a recent report by the Court of Auditors, which is devastating with regard to this privatization,” he stressed.
In addition to the fact that the value of the sale was “far below the estimate that had been published”, António Filipe pointed out that the Court of Auditors’ report, released in January, also criticizes the distribution of dividends planned over the course of the concession.
“Vinci is expected to make a profit of 20 billion euros during the concession, and the division of revenue between Vinci and the Portuguese state will be 79% for Vinci and 21% for the Portuguese state, which is completely unusual, even for situations of this nature,” he said.
The PCP MP also argued that in this deal there was “absolute promiscuity” between the different parties involved, noting that after the privatization was decided, “the state appointed a new board for ANA Airports, which had no previous experience in this matter, and it was announced by Vinci that this board would be transferred to private administration”.
“When we talk about revolving doors, we’re dealing with something more serious. This isn’t a revolving door, it’s a red carpet, in which the management appointed to a company by the state is assumed to be transferred to the company that acquired it,” he said.
Another of the “extremely worrying elements” of this deal, António Filipe continued, was the fact that the state “incomprehensibly offered Vinci the 2012 dividends, which were state dividends worth 81 million euros”.
“Therefore, there is an absolutely ruinous deal here for the state, which involves a situation of unacceptable promiscuity between public office holders and the interests of the private company, (…) in addition to the irregularities denounced by the Court of Auditors in its report, which has to do with doubts about the veracity of the documentation presented,” he stressed.
The PCP MP argued that “we need to listen to the decision-makers”, recalling that when ANA Airports was sold in 2013, the Prime Minister was Pedro Passos Coelho, the Finance Minister was Vítor Gaspar, the Economy Minister was Álvaro Santos Pereira and the Secretary of State for Infrastructure was Sérgio Monteiro.
“It’s good that those responsible for these ruinous decisions for the state explain to the Assembly of the Republic, in the context of a parliamentary inquiry, the motivation for these decisions, what they are based on and that they naturally take responsibility for the decisions they have made,” he said.
