The Attorney General's Office is taking a keen interest in the aborted sale of TAP in late 2102 when Gérman Efromovich’s Synergy group ended up as the only bidder yet was denied the prize on a trumped up condition allowing Pedro Passos Coelho to pull the sale.
A secret investigation was started last year and has been extended due to the discovery of 'new facts.'
When questioned about whether there was an ongoing investigation, the Attorney General's Office spokesman said that there are "investigations related to TAP and that these investigations are secret so it is not possible to specify the object of the process."
In fact, investigations have been conducted by the Judicial Police since late 2013 looking at influence peddling and corruption during the TAP privatisation process.
The research focuses on the TAP sales process, initiated by the Government in 2012 and which ended abruptly in December 2012 with the rejection of the offer by Gérman Efromovich as he had not supplied bank guarantees, not that he had been asked to until the last minute.
Efromovich had not supplies bank guarantees as this was not specified in the bidding process documentation, but was happy to do so had his bid been accepted.
The reason for pulling the sale on this pretext was to protect the Prime Minister’s friend and former business colleague the then Minister Miguel Relvas (pictured) as suspicions of his behind-the-scenes involvement were starting to surface in parliament, much to the PM's unease.
A report released in May 2013 by the Special Committee for the Monitoring of the Privatisation of TAP (CEAP) raised serious concerns as to the suitability of Germán Efromovich as TAP’s potential new owner.
"The risks of accepting the proposal (from Gérman Efromovich) were high in terms of the financial execution and implementation."
The CEAP report spared no criticism of the way the attempted sale of TAP in 2012 was carried out, mainly over the timing which left no time for the committee to do its job.
Miguel Relvas was under increasing suspicion as the bidding process continued, suspicion voiced by the socialist deputy Rui Paulo Figueiredo who said in December 2012 -
"Now we know the relationship between Minister Miguel Relvas and the potential purchaser of TAP, German Efromovich, various law firms, and Brazilian and Portuguese consultants."
Two years later the airline still has no date for its sale.
TAP would not comment on any investigation and claims it is unaware of any such probe.
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