Germán Efromovich is to lodge a formal complaint in Brussels 'within days' as European rule n.º2407, from 1992 stipulates that only European citizens may own European airlines, including TAP.
The Gateway consortium owned by David Neeleman and Humberto Pedrosa now seems to have overstepped the mark and broken this simple rule.
Germán Efromovich came in second in the recent privatisation of state airline TAP and instructed his lawyers to look for cracks in the Gateway bid that had been accepted by the Portuguese government.
Germán Efromovich’s action will be given credence with the latest information that has come to light over the Gateway deal registered on 19th of June.
Despite Portuguese national Humberto Pedrosa being marginally the majority shareholder in Gateway, David Neeleman not only has put in more money but also is entitled to a 74.4% share of TAP's profits.
The second mistake is that strategic decisions for TAP require seven votes out of nine members of the TAP board, five of which will be chosen by Perosa and four by Neeleman.
This means that for Pedrosa to make a decision on investments, disposals or acquisitions of assets he will always need at least two ‘yes’ votes from Neeleman’s chosen board members.
The government team handling the sale had years to ensure the rules were clear and in accordance with European legislation.
Should Germán Efromovich successfully argue that the Gateway bid indeed is not valid, the government may struggle to come up with any valid excuses for accepting the Gateway bid in preference to that of Germán Efromovich who has been a Polish national since 2012.
The rule is clear, to keep an operating license, airlines must continue "to be owned directly or through majority ownership by Member States and/or nationals of Member States" and must "always be effectively controlled by such States or nationals."
