I’m not a ‘fat cat’, claims Thomas Cook
THOMAS Cook boss Peter Fankhauser was branded “pathetic” yesterday after denying that he was a “fat cat” who mismanaged the doomed holiday firm.
The chief executive came under fire from the union which represents some of the 9,000 British staff who lost their jobs.
In his first interview since Thomas Cook’s demise last week, Mr Fankhauser said he was “heartbroken” and “deeply sorry” about the crash which left 150,000 British holidaymakers stranded.
The 58-year-old Swiss national also claimed that he only received half the £8.3million salary he was due because the rest was paid in
Thomas Cook shares, which are now worthless.
But Manuel Cortes, general secretary of transport union TSSA, said: “The facts speak far louder than Fankhauser’s weak, pathetic denials.
“The truth is, he is the fat cat who oversaw the collapse of a company that had been with us for almost 200 years.
“He may claim he’s not a fat cat but that simply does not stand up to scrutiny. Unlike employees, he walks away having been paid millions of pounds.
“It’s our members who are paying the price for his greed and inability to properly run Thomas Cook.
“Fankhauser has the cheek to say he is heartbroken about the collapse of Thomas Cook, but not half as heartbroken as our members who have lost their jobs because of his mismanagement.”
Mr Fankhauser yesterday defended his performance since joining the company as chief executive five years ago.
He claimed the 178-year-old package holiday specialist was brought down by debt – said to be about £1.6billion – accumulated before he arrived.
“I don’t think that I’m the fat cat that I’m being described as,” he said.
“I tried my absolute best to save the company. But the truth is I didn’t pull it over the line.
“And I understand all the anger, all the disappointment of my colleagues. I understand all that. But I gave everything not to be in this situation.”
Describing himself as
“desperate” and “deeply sorry”, he added: “It was not my intention that we would land where we are.
“I worked extremely hard. Of course, it did not work out, but that has nothing to do with the fact that I was lazy or something.”
Thomas Cook went into administration last week after the Government refused to bail the company out.
Its directors had tried in vain to raise a £200million payment for the banks financing a rescue deal, led by its major shareholder Fosun.
Since then, 92,700 tourists have been flown home from 53 airports in 18 countries in a rescue mission led by the Civil Aviation Authority. Operation Matterhorn – the biggest peace-time repatriation operation – aims to bring all 150,000 stranded Britons home by the end of this week.
More than 1,000 Thomas Cook staff plan to take legal action after losing their jobs at short notice and missing out on pay.
The TSSA has written to the Parliamentary committee investigating the company’s collapse and demanded that the bosses be brought to account.
Mr Cortes added: “If Fankhauser is sincerely sorry for what has happened while he was at the helm then he will have no problem appearing in front of the Parliamentary inquiry.”