“I didn’t leave a public company to go to a public company. I didn’t leave CP to go to TAP. I did not leave TAP to go to NAV,” Cristina Pinto Díaz said in Parliament on Wednesday, establishing a contrast with the case of Alexandra Reis.
The PS considered the situation of the current ruler “worse,” while the government was quick to dismiss these comparisons. “This is compensation equal to almost 400 workers,” stressed António Leitán Amaro, minister of the presidential administration, in April, when faced with news of CM.
Alexandra Reis
In 2022, Alexandra Reis left the executive administration of TAP with compensation of approximately 500 thousand euros. The amount of compensation for early termination is determined by agreement between the manager and the airline, based on the two-year contract period.
Former TAP CEO Christine Umier-Widener cited “inconsistency in executing the restructuring plan” with then-executive administrator.
A few months later, the government appointed Alexandra Reis as president of another public company, Navigação Aérea de Portugal. This appointment was signed by the Minister of Finance of the previous executive, Fernando Medina, and the owner of the infrastructure portfolio – the current Secretary General of the PS – Pedro Nuno Santos.
This was followed by an appointment to the post of Secretary of State for the Treasury, but disagreements over TAP compensation led Fernando Medina to ask Alexandra Reis to resign after 25 days in office in order to “preserve the political authority of the Ministry of Finance.”
TAP began by providing false information to the CMVM, claiming that the manager had voluntarily resigned as executive administrator. The CMVM found the term “refusal” to be “ambiguous” and fined the airline €50,000, a decision confirmed this year by the Competition, Regulatory and Surveillance Court.
Resignations in the previous government affected then-minister Pedro Nuno Santos. The current Secretary General of the PS authorized the payment of compensation to Alexandra Reis via a WhatsApp message sent to the Secretary of State for Infrastructure Hugo Mendes.
“He was found yesterday [19 de janeiro de 2023]“I am a previous communication from my then chief of staff and secretary of state, which none of the three remembered, informing me of the final value of the agreement that the parties have reached,” Pedro Nuno Santos reported at the time.
In February 2023, the Inspectorate General of Finance (IGF) pointed to “severe irregularities” in the departure process of the TAP governor. The IGF considered the agreement between Alexandra Reis and the airline invalid. Of the approximately 500 thousand euros of gross compensation, the manager had to return 266 thousand euros to the company, leaving 131 thousand euros.
Given the IGF’s findings, the government fired TAP’s then CEO for cause in April 2023, but Christine Umier-Widener challenged the legality of the dismissal and demanded €5.9 million in compensation, regretting that she would “never be able to return.” being a top executive at a flagship airline or listed company,” “keeping that blemish on your resume.”
The battle between the company and the former CEO continues in court, with the airline accusing Christine Umier-Widener of taking positions at three companies and concealing information about London-based travel and aviation consultancy O&W.
Christina Pinto Diaz
The current Secretary of State for Mobility, Cristina Pinto Diaz, has hit the jackpot when changing positions in the state. He terminated his contract with CP – Comboios de Portugal by mutual consent in 2015 and received compensation of approximately 80 thousand euros.
The next day he started work at the Office of Mobility and Transport (AMT). At the government agency that regulates the transport sector, he began to earn double, between salary and entertainment expenses: 13,440 euros per month.
According to Cristina Pinto Diaz, hundreds of workers joined the layoff program by mutual agreement. “My dismissal was exactly in accordance with the conditions applicable to all employees of the company and the redundancy program in force at the time,” the State Secretary for Mobility said in April CM.
The government official did not mention CP compensation in any of the asset and income declarations submitted to the Constitutional Court between September 2015 and January 2024. It also did not inform CP about AMT’s invitation, as the company’s former president, Manuel Cairo, assured. That CM. “If this official announcement had been made, the compensation regime would have been different,” emphasized Manuel Cairo.
CP’s former logistics director has no doubt “that the compensation was beneficial” because “the layoffs were suspended” and Cristina Pinto Díaz “did not fit into the layoff program.”
In addition, the settlement was conditional on an internal opinion confirming that employees could be terminated without the need for replacement, but the minutes of KP’s board of directors approving the compensation did not mention any opinion.
Departure was required by law. “It was impossible to resort to any mechanism other than termination,” a government official told parliament on Wednesday.
Author: Miguel Bravo Morais This Sarah Reis Teixeira
Source: CM Jornal
I’m Sandra Hansen, a news website Author and Reporter for 24 News Reporters. I have over 7 years of experience in the journalism field, with an extensive background in politics and political science. My passion is to tell stories that are important to people around the globe and to engage readers with compelling content.