The president of TAP is claiming backdated bonuses totalling €6.8 million for him and his management team.
Fernando Pinto claims that the bonuses date from 2009 and that they are part of the terms and conditions of his and his team’s engagement and performance.
The payments were suspended at the start of the recession but Pinto now wants them paid as he says that performance targets have been met.
"I hope this is resolved. It's important. I am not only responsible for managing the company but also the professionals working in the company. I have to protect them," said Pinto at the end of a committee hearing on the privatisation of TAP, the former state airline which Pinto led to the point of financial collapse.
Pinto said he had not had the opportunity to discuss the issue of bonuses to TAP directors with the current government, but promised to see the contracted amounts paid.
"There was an agreement that was made with the Government in 2006, which was signed and is clear and objective. It compares certain company performances with other companies that are not small, some are the largest companies in Europe," said Pinto who somehow kept his job after TAP was taken over by Gateway, owned by veteran airlines boss David Neeleman and Humberto Pedrosa who is better known for running bus companies.
The agreed management bonuses started to be paid in 2006 but were suspended in 2009, with the beginning of austerity and the entry into force of the Stability and Growth Programme.
Fernando Pinto is claiming more than €6.8 million in management bonuses for the years between 2006 and 2011, far above the value received in the two years previously.
Insiders say that the bonus scheme was a stitch-up with underperforming parts of the business excluded from the calculations.
Pinto’s job was to prepare TAP for sale but after ten years it was days from going bust, allowing Gateway to buy the airline for €20 million in a deal in which the taxpayer continues to underwrite over €1 billion in debt.
The TAP boss may compare the airline's performance with other large companies but he failed to achieve the target set.
Instead Pinto oversaw TAP's collapse and sale at a price that reflects his management abilities. Claiming €6.8 million in backdated bonuses is perhaps the final insult to the taxpayer.
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