Christine Ourmieres-Widener, the former chief executive officer of Portuguese airline TAP SA, has filed a lawsuit seeking €5.9 million ($6.3 million) from the state-owned carrier after being dismissed on live television earlier this year.
(Bloomberg) — Christine Ourmieres-Widener, the former chief executive officer of Portuguese airline TAP SA, has filed a lawsuit seeking €5.9 million ($6.3 million) from the state-owned carrier after being dismissed on live television earlier this year.
The French national, who was hired in 2021 to oversee the restructuring of TAP after it received government aid to survive the coronavirus pandemic, filed the lawsuit on Tuesday at a Lisbon court, according to Portugal’s Justice Ministry website Citius.
Portugal’s Finance Minister Fernando Medina sacked Ourmieres-Widener at a March 6 press conference broadcast on national television, following criticism about a severance payment of €500,000 ($535,000) to a departing executive board member. Ourmieres-Widener, the first female CEO in TAP’s 78-year history, called the move “illegal” and hired Lisbon-based law firm Vasconcelos, Arruda & Associados to contest her dismissal.
Also read: A Month After Her Very Public Firing, TAP CEO Remains on the Job
The lawsuit takes place as Portugal prepares to sell a stake in the airline through a privatization process. The government has hired Ernst & Young and Banco Finantia SA to carry out valuations of TAP, which is the biggest European operator to Brazil, maintains a strong presence in Africa and operates a number of flights to North America.
Air France-KLM, Deutsche Lufthansa AG and IAG, the parent company of British Airways and Iberia, have said they may look at TAP. TAP posted net income of €22.9 million in the first half of the year compared to a loss of €202 million in the same period a year earlier.
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