Luís Rodrigues takes office as TAP chairman, CEO
Rodrigues moves from Sata to TAP, having previously worked at the Nova School of Business and Economics. He had already been an executive director at TAP between 2009 and 2014.
Luís Rodrigues, who until now has been the chairman of SATA Airlines in the Azores, takes office on Friday as chair of the Executive Committee and Board of Directors of TAP, succeeding Christine Ourmières-Widener and Manuel Beja, who were removed by the government.
The announcement was made on Wednesday by the finance ministry, which said in a statement that his appointment was approved at a general meeting of shareholders, at which the state was represented by the Directorate General of Treasury and Finance (DGTF).
The meeting also adopted decisions on the procedures for the removal of Ourmières-Widener (chief executive officer) and Manuel Beja (chairman of the board of directors), whose last day in office was Thursday.
Rodrigues moves from Sata to TAP, having previously worked at the Nova School of Business and Economics. He had already been an executive director at TAP between 2009 and 2014.
He also worked at Media Capital and PT Comunicações, and between 2003 and 2008, he was executive chairman of Fisher Portugal.
The ministry headed by Fernando Medina stressed in the same statement that the decision concludes the process, which was initiated at the general meeting of 13 March, and the DGTF notified the chairman of the board of directors and the chief executive officer (CEO) “of the company’s respective draft resignation decisions on the following day”.
The chairman and the CEO sent their announcements to the DGTF on 28 March, and according to the government, the documents were “duly analysed and considered” in the decision.
“The conditions are now in place for TAP to begin a new stage, capable of ensuring focus on the successful implementation of the company’s restructuring plan, for which the daily contribution of all workers is indispensable,” it concluded.
On Thursday, the CEO of TAP told workers, in a letter to which Lusa had access, it was “with immense sadness” that she was leaving the company, which is stronger and has a privileged geographical position.
“It is with immense sadness that I leave TAP, after almost two years…”, Christine Ourmières-Widener said.
In the letter, the CEO said that the last two years have been “intense and challenging, of hard work together with the most competent and dedicated teams” she has known.
The government announced the resignation of the airline’s chief executive, Christine Ourmières-Widener and the chairman of the board of directors, Manuel Beja, on 6 March after the results of an audit by the General Inspectorate of Finance (IGF) were made public, which concluded that the agreement for the departure of Alexandra Reis was null and void and much of the compensation of nearly half a million euros would have to be returned.
The controversy began at the end of December when Correio da Manhã newspaper reported that the then secretary of state for the treasury had received compensation of around €500,000 to leave the company’s board two years ahead of schedule.
The case was negotiated under the commercial companies code even though TAP is covered by the public manager statute.
The case prompted a reshuffle in the government, including the departure of the former minister of infrastructure and housing, Pedro Nuno Santos.
The parliamentary commission of inquiry into TAP has heard the first personalities in recent weeks, including Christine Oumières-Widener, Manuel Beja and Alexandra Reis, with revelations that have increased pressure on António Costa’s government.
In the crosshairs are the ministers of finance, Fernando Medina, parliamentary affairs, Ana Catarina Mendes, and infrastructure, João Galamba, after TAP’s chief executive confirmed a Liberal Initiative complaint about a meeting with the PS parliamentary group on the eve of the parliamentary hearing in January.
