TAP accused of lying

The former president of Portugal’s stock market watchdog CMVM, Carlos Tavares, has hinted that TAP has “lied to the market” about the circumstances of the departure of one of its directors and should be “brought to book”.

In an interview with State broadcaster RTP’s Antena 1 radio and the newspaper Jornal de Negócios, the ex-president of the Portuguese stock market and securities commission (CMVM) and former minister of the Economy under the PSD-led government of José Manuel Durão Barroso, said that the “differences” that Alexandre Reis had with TAP’s CEO, Christine Ourmières-Widener which allegedly led to her departure “should have been resolved by the board of directors”.
“If there were disagreements, you don’t resolve them by showing the door to the person you don’t agree with, but it should go to the board of directors which should take such decisions”.
The economist thinks that Alexandra Reis didn’t actually have to leave TAP over the “disagreements” but could have taken on a non-executive board position.
Tavares said he believes that the airline lied to the CMVM since there had been “different information” about her resignation, adding that this information too should have been released by the board and not the CEO.
“You only have to compare the two communiqués that were issued to arrive at the conclusion that they were saying different things. This shows a certain carelessness. The person who has to report to the market is not the CEO; it is the president of the board”, he said.
RTP analyst Garcia Pereira also believes the case involving a €500,000 ‘Golden Handshake’ to former TAP director Alexandra Reis after just 18 months in the job reveals “gross mismanagement” on the part of the airline which has had €3.2Bn of taxpayers money and loans to keep the company afloat and pay for its restructuring in recent years.

Image: RTP TV