The TAP inquiry commission considered this Wednesday “manifestly unenforceable” the extension of the deadline for another 35 days requested by the airline for sending documentation, admitting only granting another 10 days for exceptional and duly substantiated cases.
At the meeting of the parliamentary committee of inquiry into TAP, one of the points under discussion was the request that the airline made to the Assembly of the Republic for an additional 35 days to send the information, considering that the legal period of 10 days is “manifestly insufficient”.
The chairman of the commission, the socialist Jorge Seguro Sanches, proposed a decision to the deputies in which this request is refused, a text that was approved with votes in favor of all parties, with the exception of the vote against Chega, and now this reply is sent to TAP.
According to the approved text, “the request for an extension of the deadline for another 35 days”, in addition to the 10 days granted, “proves to be manifestly unenforceable and unfounded, case by case and by document”, not least because the deadline set for the duration of the commission of inquiry is 90 days.
Among other deliberations, the commission of inquiry decided “to grant another 10 days, in addition to the 10 days legally foreseen, to comply with the request for formulated documents, provided that this justification is, on a case-by-case basis, accepted” by the president.
“TAP should send the requested documents as it collects them so as not to compromise the commission’s work and normal functioning”, also refers to the document that will be sent to the aviation company.
The deputies also respond to TAP that “the concerns expressed by that company in relation to privileged or sensitive commercial information, business secrets or relation to information with personal data are duly safeguarded”, determining that the company should “only send the document in cause duly classified as to the information it contains”. “The commission of inquiry will be responsible for taking the necessary and appropriate measures to ensure the classification assigned to the document”, he adds.
It is also recalled that the commissions of inquiry “enjoy the investigative powers of the judicial authorities”. TAP asked for another 35 days to send the information requested to the inquiry commission, considering that 10 days is a “manifestly insufficient” period, according to the request to which Lusa had access and which was reported by PÚBLICO.
“The vastness of documents covered by this request implies the location, consultation and gathering of thousands of documents and records, which, in many cases, will have to be read one by one”, began by pointing out TAP, in a document addressed to the president from the parliamentary commission of inquiry to the political supervision of the management of TAP, Jorge Seguro Sanches.
The airline says that 111 requests were made, “many of which” represent the collection of “hundreds” or even “thousands” of documents, from different areas and that require the company to verify that they contain confidential information.