The former CEO of the Portuguese airline TAP, Christine Ormeyer-Widener, filed a lawsuit before a court in Lisbon, demanding compensation of more than 5.9 million euros ($ 6.3 million) after she was dismissed from her job last March in the context of a loud scandal.
The Citius portal of the Ministry of Justice reports that the lawsuit was filed with the Central Civil Court in Lisbon on September 5.
Finance Minister Fernando Medina and Infrastructure Minister Joao Galamba, who oversee the state-owned company, announced the sacking of the French CEO for just cause on March 6, in the wake of a scandal involving the illegal departure of €500,000 in damages paid to a former board member. Board of Directors.
A month later, the former chief executive told parliament that her dismissal was illegal and that she had become a “scapegoat” because the payment was approved by the Ministry of Infrastructure, whose chief executive Pedro Nuno Santos, at the time, resigned last December. He later admitted agreeing to the dismissal.
The ministry and TAP declined to comment on the lawsuit.
The government is now preparing to privatize TAP, with major rivals Lufthansa, Air France-KLM and IAG, owner of British Airways, paving the way for potential deals.
TAP, currently led by Luis Rodriguez, made a net profit of 23 million euros in the first half, compared to a loss of 202 million euros previously, thanks to strong growth in revenue.
($1 = €0.9339) (Reporting by Sergio Goncalves; Writing by Andre Khalip and Jason Neely)
