The former president of the Águas de Portugal (AdP) group, José Furtado, refused this Wednesday, succumbing to pressure from former Finance Minister Fernando Medina to distribute dividends to the state in order to reduce debt by 2023.
At a hearing before the Committee on Budget, Finance and Public Administration of the Assembly of the Republic, the manager acknowledged that on this issue “there is actually tension” between the shareholder (the state) and the management, but assured that the group administration “did not allow itself to be pressured”.
“I don’t think I succumbed to pressure, I didn’t succumb to any pressure,” he assured.
“The board of directors has a responsibility to formulate its system of obligations in a balanced and prudent manner, combining the legitimate demands of shareholders with the inherent responsibilities of managers,” he explained.
Jose Furtado assured that “management will have to purposefully and constructively study all alternatives that will not have a significant impact on its own funds.”
“I do not allow myself to be pressured, I do not allow myself to be forced, and I do not tolerate interference or interference,” he assured the deputies.
Jose Furtado also considered this a “normal” situation in the context of the relationship between shareholders and managers.
“There are actually tensions during this process, both in terms of legitimacy and, obviously, the leadership of the ADP did not allow pressure to be put on them,” he stressed.
According to the group’s former president, “the management was not happy with the situation with the reduction of its own funds, and in the end it consoled itself with the fact that it was not harming these own funds.”
José Furtado also assured that he did not feel a “lack of confidence” on the part of the government, pointing to a conversation he had with then Prime Minister António Costa, who suggested that the company would increase its capital so that the group “would not be punished.”
The former AdP president answered questions from MPs, while Paulo Nuncio from CDS read out the contents of emails between the group’s previous management and Medina’s tutelage regarding the extraordinary dividend distribution.
The request in question concerns the Finance Ministry’s request, made at the end of last year, for the company to pay 100 million euros in dividends to the state.
In addition to the former president of Grupo Águas de Portugal, the president of NAV Portugal, Pedro Angelo, and the president of Imprensa Nacional Casa da Moeda, Dora Moita, will testify on Thursday.
These hearings were requested by the CDS-PP, taking into account the dividends received from these public companies and their impact on the reduction of public debt, a topic that appears in the analysis carried out by UTAO (Technical Budget Assistance Office).
In its report on market conditions, public debt and external debt until March, published on April 10, the UTAO believes that the significant increase in public debt consolidation ratios in 2023 is the result of budget surpluses and a “conscious search for investments in securities,” indicating that such an increase in investments by organic units in debt instruments will in some cases be the result of “simple management options,” and there are also cases where “financial management options were conditioned by government guidelines.”
A document from an organization led by Rui Baleiras classifies the reduction in public debt as “artificial.”
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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