“It was the worst day of my life.” Christine Ourmières-Widener assumed that was how she felt on March 6, when Fernando Medina and João Galamba announced their removal from the TAP presidency for “just cause”. Therefore, he has a “priority”: “Trying to restore my honor, the international reputation I have in this industry”.
The statements by the president of TAP were made at the hearing this Tuesday, April 4, at the parliamentary committee of inquiry.
As he said, in the insistent questions posed by the Social Democrat deputy Paulo Moniz, the CEO of TAP was surprised because she had not been previously informed that she would be removed from that position – although she was invited to resign.
Christine Ourmières-Widener was surprised because she considers that dismissal for “just cause” is not justified. “For doing my job, I am in this position,” she defended herself.
The justification given by the Government for the unilateral removal was the audit of the General Inspectorate of Finance, which considered that the signature left in February 2022 in the agreement for the departure of the former manager of TAP, Alexandra Reis, violated the Statute of the Manager Public.
A justification with which he disagrees: “The only explanation is that it was for political reasons. Political pressure”. Therefore, he will fight for honor – and for the amounts he will be entitled to for the salaries he was entitled to for the current mandate.
TIAGO MIRANDA
The meeting before the resignation
The surprise of the executive president of TAP to see herself unilaterally dismissed was due to the fact that she had been in a meeting with the Minister of Finance, Fernando Medina, the day before. At that meeting, there was a request from the ruler: “He asked me to resign”, she revealed.
“During the meeting, the minister suggested that it might be good for my reputation to resign,” he explained.
“To resign would be to admit that I did something wrong. And I didn’t do anything wrong”, justified the CEO in her hearing, before the members of the parliamentary inquiry.
It was a “very difficult” meeting, because he heard from the minister that TAP’s results were “phenomenal”. “But, in view of the pressure from different sources, there was no option for the Government, there was not much room for the mandate to move forward”, he said. However, nothing was confirmed until the next day at the press conference. “When the minister asked me if he wanted to resign, he didn’t say he was going to leave”, he added. The next day, that’s what happened.
Fernando Medina made the request for the resignation in Christine Ourmières-Widener’s own name when it was about to be made public, a day later, that the IGF considered that the CEO failed before the State shareholder and that there was “financial responsibility” to assume, with the Court of Auditors. This is because she had signed the compensation of half a million euros so that, a year earlier, in January 2022, Alexandra Reis left the management of the carrier.