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THE PORTUGUESE GOVERNMENT HAS lost two more ministers today, two days after another was forced to resign amid a growing controversy over a €500,000 severance package from state-owned airline TAP.
The opposition has asked for an urgent explanation from the government about the payment junior finance minister Alexandra Reis received from TAP when she left its board in February before the end of her contract.
The debt-ridden carrier is undergoing a restructuring that has led to redundancies and pay cuts for many employees.
Today, two days after Reis was forced out of office, infrastructure minister Pedro Nunes Santos and his deputy Hugo Santos Mendes announced they were stepping down.
Santos, whose department is responsible for TAP, said he was resigning because of “public perception” of the issue and was “taking political responsibility”.
After leaving TAP, Reis was appointed head of state-run air traffic control company NAV. Then in early December she became junior minister at the treasury.
Like TAP, NAV is controlled by the infrastructure ministry.
Reis insists she did nothing illegal and simply demanded the severance package to which she was entitled, something TAP has confirmed.
But the opposition wants centre-left Prime Minister Antonio Costa to appear in parliament next week to explain himself.
Paulo Rangel, vice president of the opposition centre-right Social Democratic Party complained the “epidemic of political crises” was causing “instability”.
The small right-wing Liberal Initiative plans to propose a motion of no-confidence in Costa’s Socialist Party government.
But it has only eight of the parliament’s 230 seats and environment minister Duarte Cordeiro has dismissed the threat.
“The government has the support of the absolute majority of MPs in the House and will carry on with its job,” he said.
Political analyst Paula do Espirito Santo said the government has been weakened by “TAPgate”.
“Its image has been damaged and that undermines its credibility,” she told AFP.
TAP, whose financial woes have only worsened with the Covid pandemic, was renationalised in 2020.
The European Union conditioned the move on a 3.2-billion-euro restructuring plan, which has been challenged by the TAP pilots’ union.
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No wonder he moved to Ireland, if it ever happened him again, sure he’d be grand!!
Must have been an inspirational figure for David Drumm and Sean Fitzpatrick.
He only lost 1 billion, they lost 35 and counting
Subsequent actions have shown that neither David Drumm or Seanie Fitz are half the man Nick Leeson is.
1 billion was probably more 20 years ago
£1 billion in 95. Today would be about £4 billion give or take a couple of hundred million ish.
But as someone earlier quoted its only numbers on a screen. Face it the likes of most of us here will never see anything like that type like type of cash.
How could you go into work, day after day with the figures spiralling up like that?! Imagine the stress!
It puts today’s PowerPoint into perspective! :D
Sounds like father Ted when Ted and Dougal started to hammer the car to get the dent out of it
Nick proved what David Icke said in 1990 – there’s no such thing as money anymore, only numbers on a screen. Those numbers only matter to those of us beneath the pile because, without them, we can’t live. For the powers that be they are just likes chips in a casino.
So Icke once said something that wasn’t totally batshit insane. Duly noted. Wonder was this before or after his turquoise phase?
Ah will ye stop. Youll be telling me next ray d’arcy went back to rte.
He did wrong and did the time for it and has turned his life around. Fair play to him.
Too much greed and not enough fear.
those bankers are all sociopaths who are unable to feel remorse .. that’s why they’re able to do what they do
It’s only money
He’s gonna be the next minister for finance .
What an amazing story. They should make a movie about it!
Forget Barings.
He brought down Galway Utd….
-He was a young guy who happened to be a financial wizard.
-there is no ethics or morality in banking.
- put a young financial wizard in charge of front and back office banking activities in a culture of no morality or ethics and with probability…this will happen regularly.
- he deserved his jail sentence but so does the whole banking system.
Ah come on, he looks like a tool, this should have been picked up on during the interview…..
I lived in Singapore for a number of years and he’s still a legend of sorts there. Everyone has a “story” about him….how they once played football with him,how he once donated $1000 to some charity they were collecting for etc. There’s even a cocktail named in his honour at the bar he used to drink in (Harrys bar on Boat quay) called “The Bank Breaker”.
have your say