Deputies will call the Inspector General of Finance to Parliament

Deputies of the Commission on Budget, Finance and Public Administration (COFAP) approved this Wednesday Chega’s request to hear from the Inspector General of Finance, António Ferreira dos Santos, regarding the audit of unaccountable government subsidies.

Chega’s request was approved by a vote of all parties, with the exception of Livre, who abstained (the Bloc de Esquerda and the PCP were not present in the hall).

We are talking about the value of subsidies provided by public organizations but not reported to the Inspectorate General of Finance (IGF), which, according to the audit reports of this organization, exceeded 1 billion euros, taking into account the years 2021 and 2022.

Chega believes that this “report clearly demonstrates the lack of control and, above all, oversight that exists in Portugal on the part of those who oversee these structures.”

In 2021, the value of subsidies and benefits provided by public organizations and transferred to the IGF, according to current legislation, amounted to 7.471 million euros.

However, according to the IGF report, the surveillance audit found that 145 grant providers (among 90 local authorities, 45 entities from the Autonomous Region of the Azores and 10 from the central administration) missed reporting deadlines for subsidies amounting to €628.1 million, “contrary to the law.” .

“Most organizations cited limited resources or omissions/forgetfulness, and in the case of the Azores, a lack of protocol between the Republic and regional governments was cited,” the IGF audit said.

Data recently published by the IGF shows that €8.003 million in government subsidies were allocated in 2023, with no information on compliance to date.

A vote on another request by Chega for an urgent hearing with State Finance Secretary Claudia Reis Duarte on the issue of dam tax collection was scheduled, but it was postponed.

The same happened with the vote on BE’s request for an urgent hearing with the Director General of HM Revenue and Customs and the Secretary of State for Finance on the collection of taxes related to dams.