The president of the republic said on Wednesday that he believed the finance minister when Fernando Medina said he was unaware of the fee paid by TAP to Alexandra Reis when she was invited to become finance secretary.
“I believe when ministers say they didn’t know,” declared Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.
The head of state was questioned during Refood’s Christmas dinner in Lisbon about the reaction of the Ministry of Finance to RTP on TAP’s payment of half a million euros in compensation to Alexandra Reis.
Fernando Medina’s office indicated that the minister was not aware of this fee when Alexandra Reis was invited to join the government and only found out after the news broke this weekend.
Earlier, upon arriving at this solidarity dinner, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa had said that if members of the government “say publicly that they didn’t know, they didn’t know”.
“So I’m not going to say whether they knew or not,” he added.
The president of the republic was also asked if it would be possible to swear in the new secretary of state on Friday before he travels to Brazil. “I don’t believe it’s possible to take office tomorrow [quinta-feira]”, he indicated.
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.
The compensation to Alexandra Reis was criticized by the entire opposition and even questioned by the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, when he said that “there are people who think” that it would be “nice” if the Secretary of State were to remit of the amount.
Correio da Manhã reported on Saturday that Alexandra Reis has been awarded half a million euros in damages for leaving the position of executive director of the airline early in February, while she still had two years to fulfill her duties. In June, she was appointed President of Navegação Aérea de Portugal (NAV) by the government and was elected Secretary of State for Finance at the end of the year.
After requests for clarification to TAP, from the Ministers of Finance and Infrastructure, and the Prime Minister himself, António Costa, who admitted not knowing Alexandra Reis’s background, the resignation was announced by Fernando Medina’s cabinet on Tuesday evening.
Source: DN
