Court of Auditors to audit TAP Air Portugal

  • Lusa
  • 17 January 2023

The CEO of TAP, Christine Ourmières-Widener, will go to parliament on Wednesday to give explanations about the €500,000 compensation to former director Alexandra Reis.

The president of the Court of Auditors, José Tavares, announced on Tuesday that the institution would conduct an audit of TAP following the news that has come to light about the airline.

“We also have an audit planned on TAP,” José Tavares said today at a hearing at parliament’s Budget and Finance Committee.

The head of the Court of Auditors​​​​​​​ was responding to a question from social democrat MP Hugo Carneiro on whether the institution was planning an audit of TAP.

Tavares stressed that when faced with controversy the Court tends to stay on the sidelines, but “monitors, sees, hears and reads”, with action planned in the institution’s plan.

The case of the compensation of half a million euros paid to former secretary of state Alexandra Reis for her early departure from the board of TAP led to the resignation of the former minister of infrastructure and housing, Pedro Nuno Santos, and a reshuffle in the government.

An audit by the Inspectorate General of Finance into the TAP controversy is also currently underway, which Finance Minister Fernando Medina said on Tuesday will be made public when completed.

The chief executive of TAP, Christine Ourmières-Widener, will go to parliament on Wednesday to give explanations about the €500,000 compensation to former director Alexandra Reis, who was also president of NAV and secretary of state.

The hearing of the airline’s chief executive follows the potestative request of Chega, after the PS parliamentary group rejected the hearing proposal at first.