TAP issued a statement this Thursday in which it says that, since “no decision has yet been adopted by the shareholder”, the executive chairman, Christine Ourmières-Widener, and the chairman of the board of directors, Manuel Beja, “continue to in office, under the terms of the law, fulfilling the responsibilities inherent to their respective positions”.
The airline also says, in clarifying the market, that it does not have information “about the specific procedures that will be adopted nor about the specific deadlines foreseen for their adoption by the shareholder”, linked to the intention announced on Monday by the minister of Finance to “exonerate them with just cause”.
What TAP says it has already received is a communication sent by the Directorate-General for the Treasury and Finance (DGTF), an entity through which the State is the company’s shareholder, “through which it was informed” that this entity “will start immediately the procedures leading to the dismissal for just cause” of the two managers “from all management functions exercised in companies of the TAP universe”.
TAP also says that “it does not have any additional information regarding any other changes intended by the shareholder in the composition of its management body”.
In addition, it refers that, “considering that it results from the aforementioned IGF report that the agreement signed with Eng.ª Alexandra Reis is void in the part referring to the payment of compensation for the early termination of management duties, TAP is already taking the necessary steps to return the amount unduly paid”, calculated at 450 thousand euros (out of a total of 500 thousand), “without prejudice to the eventuality that the shareholder may be given, under legal terms, concrete instructions on this matter , which will be fully complied with by TAP”.
“TAP continues to develop its business activities with complete normality, with all members of the management body currently exercising their functions and ensuring the timely fulfillment of TAP’s obligations, namely towards its employees, customers, creditors and other stakeholders”, clarifies the company.
Yesterday, an official source from the Ministry of Finance said that Fernando Medina had already ordered the DGTF “to prepare and promote the procedure for dismissing the chairman of the board of directors and the chairman of the executive committee for just cause, complying with the provisions of the law (guaranteeing the prior hearing of the persons concerned and present the reasons for the procedure)”.
O Business Journal reported that Christine Ourmières-Widener hired lawyer Inês Arruda, a specialist in the labor area, partner of Vasconcelos, Arruda & Associados, information confirmed by PÚBLICO, to defend her in this process.