Parliament Grills Former Thomas Cook CEO Over His $600,000 Bonus

Peter Fankhauser, the former head of travel company Thomas Cook, was questioned by a committee in the British Parliament on Tuesday in order to ascertain the reasons behind the company’s failure. When asked if he’ll return his bonus payment, Fankhauser said that he would “consider what is right”.

The former head of travel company Thomas Cook was questioned by a committee of members of the British parliament on Tuesday in order to ascertain the reasons behind the company’s collapse, reports the BBC.

Specifically, the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) Committee questioned Peter Fankhauser over executive pay practices at the company. It has emerged that Fankhauser received £500,000 ($636,108) in bonus pay.

Rachel Reeves, the head of the committee, then questioned if Fankhauser would return the monies in order to offset the UK taxpayer-funded repatriation program for stranded Thomas Cook travelers. The BBC also reports that any returned funds would go toward lay-off packages for former staff members.

Offering his comments to the committee, Fankhauser was quoted as saying, “I fully understand the sentiment in the public and I understand the sentiment of some of our colleagues. However, what I can say to that is that I worked tirelessly for the success of the company and I am deeply sorry that I was not able to secure the deal.”

The deal referred to by Fankhauser was an expected financing plan to save the company. The outlet reports that Fankhauser had hoped for a deal backed by the UK government.

Continuing his explanation of why the company collapsed during his tenure, he added, “But it was not one-sided that I failed. There were multiple parties who had to contribute to the deal which finally then did not succeed.”

Directly addressing whether or not he would return the bonus, Fankhauser said that he will “consider what is right but I’m not going to decide that today”.

[Featured Image: Flickr/World Travel & Tourism]