CMVM guarantees that it is not conditioned by the media coverage of the Alexandra Reis case

The chairman of the Securities Market Commission (CMVM), Luís Laginha de Sousa, said this Saturday that the media coverage of the case of Alexandra Reis leaving TAP is not conditioning the performance of the capital market supervisor.

In January, the CMVM announced that it was evaluating “with great care” the information provided by TAP about the departure of Alexandra Reis, adding that if there was an administrative offense, this would be communicated “as soon as possible”.

In an interview with Antena 1 radio and Jornal de Negócios, Laginha de Sousa declined to say what stage the CMVM supervision action is at, limiting himself to ensuring that the institution is attentive to everything that is published and that it may constitute a more -value for the process.

“We are not indifferent to what is going on around us, but this is not in the sense of conditioning us. It is in the sense of realizing if there are sometimes aspects that we may be missing”, he said.

The president of the CMVM also clarified that the role of the supervisor is not to assess whether the decision taken by the company was good or bad, but rather to ensure that investors “have the information that allows them to assess everything they deem relevant and take their decisions”.

Regarding the role of the CMVM in this process, Laginha de Sousa guaranteed that the market regulator has “everything very well documented” and that decisions are taken “in the light of the best interpretation and the best information available”.

At the first hearing in the Budget and Finance committee in parliament as president of the CMVM, in January, Laginha de Sousa was questioned several times about the information provided by TAP to the financial market regulator on the departure of Alexandra Reis, as the airline communicated only the resignation of the administrator in the information to the market, when it later became known that there was a negotiation for the exit.

The responsible person’s vague answers displeased several deputies who kept repeating the question about the CMVM’s action in the case and whether they considered that wrong information was provided by TAP.

“The information available was not what it should be. Then, the consequences that may or may not have in terms of administrative offense is an analysis that has to be carried out with great care”, said Laginha de Sousa, adding that he cannot enter the case specifically due to the secrecy to which the CMVM is subject, but that it “will not take longer than is strictly necessary” to make a decision.

In February 2022, TAP communicated to the CMVM the departure of administrator Alexandra Reis, referring to the airline that Alexandra Reis had resigned from her position.

In December, Alexandra Reis took office as Secretary of State for the Treasury, having then “broke” the controversy over the compensation she received when she left the airline owned by the State (500 thousand euros).

In a written statement sent to Lusa that month, Alexandra Reis said that the termination agreement “as administrator of companies in the TAP universe” and the revocation of the “employment contract with TAP SA, both requested by TAP, as well as the its public communication, was agreed between the legal teams of both parties, mandated to ensure the adoption of best practices and strict compliance with all legal precepts”.

On December 28, TAP sent a new clarification to the CMVM, stating that the resignation presented by Alexandra Reis “occurred following a negotiation process on the initiative of TAP, in the sense of reaching a consensus by agreement on the termination of all existing contractual ties between Alexandra Reis and TAP”.

The executive president (CEO) of TAP, Christine Ourmières-Widenersaid, in January, in parliament, that the communications sent to the CMVM on the compensation of Alexandra Reis were recommended by lawyers and guaranteed that there are documents and “written evidence” about all the process.

On March 6, the airline’s executive president and chairman of the Board of Directors, Manuel Beja, were exonerated by the Government after the announcement of the results of an audit by the General Inspection of Finance (IGF), which concluded that the agreement for the exit of Alexandra Reis is null and the compensation of close to half a million euros will have to be returned.