“Suspicions of corruption should not mean that the Portuguese keep paying endlessly without receiving anything in return: one does not justify the other,” warned André Ventura, speaking to journalists during a campaign event at Lusíada University in Lisbon.
The presidential candidate asserted that all investigations should proceed but emphasized that “the Portuguese also deserve that TAP does not become a bottomless pit.”
“We continue to pour money indefinitely and are never compensated. In the world’s best countries, when governments had to invest in airlines, they returned that money to the users. With TAP, it’s ‘pay, pay, pay,’ and you get nothing back,” he criticized.
Ventura supported a version of TAP that “prioritizes contact with communities” and defends “traditional routes,” where “corruption is seriously combated.”
The candidate for Belém advocated for “a strong, capable, intervening, and independent justice system, capable of doing what needs to be done.”
TAP, the Barraqueiro Group, and Parpública are currently subjects of PJ searches, with various media outlets pointing to alleged crimes in the 2015 privatization.
The Attorney General’s Office (PGR) confirmed in September last year the receipt of the report from the General Inspectorate of Finance (IGF) on TAP’s privatization in 2015 and forwarded the document to the Central Department of Investigation and Penal Action (DCIAP).
The ongoing investigation was opened in February 2023 and resulted from a report by Fernando Medina and Pedro Nuno Santos, then ministers of Finance and of Infrastructure and Housing, respectively.
