The finance minister said this Thursday that the state is protected by the “reality of the facts” by virtue of the dismissal of the former CEO of TAP, acquitted by the government for good reason, as the arguments used are sound and evident are .
Fernando Medina spoke to journalists at the end of a parliamentary hearing at the Budget and Finance Commission (COF), when asked whether the state was protected under the decision to fire Christine Ourmières-Widener.
“I feel that you are protected by the reality of the facts. Does anyone in our country understand that making a payment of half a million euros considered illegal by the Inspectorate General of Finance (IGF) is not a serious wrongful act? “he said.
The official justified that if the payment of damages of €500 million to former TAP administrator Alexandra Reis was deemed unlawful by the IGF, “under the law it is grounds for dismissal for cause”.
“Stakeholders have the right to challenge this in court. I believe that the arguments to consider an illegal payment of EUR 500,000 as serious, I think, are clear, solid, evident”he claimed.
At the hearing this Thursday at COF, the finance minister indicated that there was “no additional advice” to justify the resignation of TAP’s ‘chairman’ and chairman of the executive committee (CEO), beyond the results of the IGF report.
It is the opinion that allegedly served as the basis for the dismissal of the CEO of TAP for cause, which Fernando Medina said on Thursday does not exist, after the government admitted its existence, through the ministers of the Presidency and Parliamentary Affairs
When asked about the statements of the management this Wednesday with reference to the advice, the minister did not fully answer the question and repeated several times that the final decision approved at the General Assembly contained the series of arguments that the shareholder understood to support that decision to take. whereas “if anyone intends to challenge this decision, he must challenge this document”, since “everything is there”.
On the executive’s argument that “its disclosure poses risks to the legal defense of the state’s position”, Fernando Medina justified that “the requests made and in the statements of PSD officials” were more than the substance of the General Assembly. : “It came from what has been done from the point of view of the wording of the documents”.
“This has no relevance from a material point of view. From a material point of view, these documents, these decisions, are what exists. , which was approved by the General Assembly”he claimed.
Fernando Medina emphasized that he did not seek advice from a law firm, but was given the advice: “The government only made a decision after we asked the IGF for a full and complete assessment, which took long weeks, months to carry out this assessment and concluded that there had been an irregularity”he repeated.
At the hearing, Medina guaranteed that providing information to the CPI will never be a problem, but he added: “There is no opinion, the idea that has arisen that there would be an opinion … there is no additional opinion on what is the basis of the ground for dismissal”.
That is what the minister said “Then there is a translation of an IGF report into what is a piece that basically translates the act of the shareholder regarding the start of the dismissal process, approved at the general meeting of the company, the announcement of the intention to firing. Then there’s the reaction of those targeted in relation to that intent and then there’s the final decision about that process. This is what exists”.
indicate that “there is work to be done […] in the transformation of what is the basis of the IGF report with regard to the decision being made”added that the government will wait to receive the request that the commission will send and will “analyze what has been posted” based on that request, guaranteeing: “We’ll be sure to provide what’s on offer.”
Source: DN
