The Union of Civil Aviation Pilots (SPAC) has this Thursday called for the resignation of the chairmen of the board of directors of TAP, Manuel Beja, and of the executive committee, Christine Ourmières-Widener, because of the controversial compensation that has already led to fired from the government.
Reacting to the resignation of the Minister of Infrastructure and Housing, Pedro Nuno Santos, on Wednesday evening to “assume political responsibility” for awarding a compensation of 500 thousand euros from TAP to the former Secretary of State for Finance, Alexandra Reis, the president of the SPAC, Tiago Faria Lopes, stated that the official “finally assumed political responsibility for this matter”.
“But it’s not just political responsibility that’s at stake. There’s another responsibility, which is an operational, corporate responsibility, which is because there’s public money,” in this case of TAP compensation, Tiago Faria Lopes said in statements to Lusa, who to refer to the “two players” who still work at TAP, the CEO, Christine Ourmières-Widener, and the “Chairman,” Manuel Beja.
“Out of solidarity and out of loyalty to the minister [Pedro Nunes]when the minister resigns, we all hope the same, of course [CEO e ‘chairman’] resign”he said, listing the reasons why he defends these two airline layoffs.
First, “because of all these scandals” regarding TAP; second, because of the lie they wrote” to the Securities Market Commission (CMVM).
“If they lie to the CMVM, the regulatory body, they are guaranteed to lie to the taxpayers and the employees of TAP Air Portugal,” he defended.
Regarding a possible departure of TAP’s CEO, the SPAC’s chairman says that “it appears” there is an addendum to Christine Ourmières-Widener’s contract that stipulates that at the end of the contract, or by early termination, she gets a bonus.
“Guaranteed that this bonus, at the base of half a million euros received by engineers Alexandra Reis, will be much greater. The scandal will be greater. Now it remains to be seen whether it is true or not,” he said.
The resignation of Pedro Nuno Santos was the third in government in two days, following Alexandra Reis, of the Treasury, at the center of the controversy over TAP’s compensation, and the Secretary of State for Infrastructure, Hugo Santos Mendes, who accompanied the decision by Pedro Nuno Santos.
Finance Minister Fernando Medina fired the Secretary of State for Finance on Tuesday, less than a month after Alexandra Reis took office and after four days of controversy over TAP’s €500,000 compensation, overseen by Pedro Nuno Santos.
Alexandra Reis received compensation for her early departure, in February, as the airline’s executive administrator. In June, she was appointed by the government to preside over Navegação Aérea de Portugal (NAV) and this month she was elected Secretary of State for Finance.
Source: DN
