TAP CEO’s car torched

BMW torched – a coincidence?

The Portugal Resident reports that It could simply be an unhappy coincidence, but the torching of outgoing TAP CEO’s company BMW in Alfragide (Lisbon outskirts) in the early hours of yesterday morning is being investigated by PJ police, with all options open. Apparently, a company car, parked overnight by a TAP driver who presumably lived nearby, was one of three cars severely damaged if not destroyed by a fire that was started in a rubbish bin by youths seen fleeing the scene around 1.30 am.

The hypothesis that the car was not in fact any kind of target seems extremely likely. According to reports, this was the first time the BMW had been seen in the street.

As it is today, the car is a total write-off. Ms Ourmières-Widener, if she still requires chauffeuring to her office (where she was summarily dismissed but is expected to remain working for the next week or so), will be transported in another vehicle.

Correio da Manhã reports that the TAP CEO’s car was so badly damaged, it was almost impossible to read the registration plate.

Nothing has been said about the condition of the other two cars, and neighbours have described acts of vandalism like this in the area, but police sources have refuted the suggestion that these are reaching a new peak.

Says CM this morning, the first job of PJ, the criminal police, is to try and identify the youths seen abandoning the scene in Rua das Garagens once the fire took hold.

TAP CEO’s €3m reported severance pay

Splashed over Correio da Manhã’s front page at the weekend was the fact that ousted TAP CEO Christine Ourmières-Widener is reported to be demanding more than €3 million in severance pay. 

Adding to the enormity of the claim is the fact that she is also apparently still at her desk, as no one has officially told her to go. 

This may be due to a small matter of procedure, explained by President Marcelo: Ms Ourmières-Widener (sometimes just referred to as Ms Ourmières) should be dismissed by a TAP general assembly, not by the government on national television. That general assembly has not yet assembled.