This Friday, the PSD asked the government what projects exist for the future former Belém military hospital and wants to know “when and how the 3.2 million euros” used to retrain this infrastructure will be replenished.
In a question addressed to Minister of National Defense Helena Carreiras, the PSD parliamentary group recalls the controversial increase in funds used to requalify this hospital from the original 750,000 euros to 3.2 million euros, citing that the “General Defense National Inspectorate (IGDN) considered that these amounts were paid illegally and therefore they need to be replaced.”
“Since the funds of the Law on Military Infrastructure (LIM) have been misused [antigo] Director General of National Defense Resources, Dr. Alberto Coelho, for the payment in April 2020 to contractors of a total of 3.2 million euros, the issue of the need to replace them was raised, especially since they could only be used with the express permission of the guardianship,” the text says.
For this reason, according to the deputies, the then Minister of National Defense, Jorge Seguro Sánchez, “issued an order in which he said: “I did not agree and did not order (and was not offered to me) the projects of the former ISF within the LIM (distribution of its costs). Accordingly, these projects need to be adjusted, ”they quote.
The Social Democrats argue that this amount was to be replenished during 2021, “as seen in the report on the implementation of the LIM in 2020 sent to the Assembly of the Republic by the office of João Gomes Cravinho and Segura Sanches” and “signed by Alberto”. Coelho.”
“The problem is that the LIM report for 2021 does not mention the distribution of income, and also did not reflect its own income in the activity plan of the General Directorate of National Defense Resources for the same year. how the money will come to replace what was spent on the work of the old military hospital in Belen,” they note.
The Orange parliamentary group also mentions that it was reported that this infrastructure would not be used from September 2022, when the Afghan refugees who were there left.
“Therefore, it is important to know what are the plans for the custody of the former military hospital of Belen, taking into account not only the high costs of its modernization in 2020, but also the needs of the Armed Forces in relation to medical units,” they support. .
In this context, PSD wants Helena Carreiras to confirm whether the former Belém military hospital has been “empty and unused since last September”, what projects exist for the future of this infrastructure of the armed forces, and “when and how the 3.2 million euros used to pay contractors, who performed work at the former Belem military hospital in March/April 2020.”
The Parliamentary Group also asked the Minister of Defense a second question, in which they recalled that Operation Perfect Storm, initiated by the Judicial Police (JP) in agreement with the Public Ministry (MP), in December 2022, five arrests, including three high-ranking officials of the Ministry defense, one of those arrested was the former Director General of National Defense Resources, Alberto Coelho, who held the position while work was underway at the former Belém military hospital.
The text mentions that, in line with the recommendation of the Council for the Prevention of Corruption, “all public authorities are strongly encouraged to draw up plans for the prevention of corruption and related offenses, as well as annual reports on their implementation”, which aim to “identify situations that are potentially for corruption risks and/or related offences, list the preventive and corrective measures that minimize the likelihood of the risk occurring, and define the methodology for taking and monitoring the proposed measures, indicating the relevant responsible parties.
PSD wants to know if the “Corruption and Related Violations Risk Management Plan of the General Directorate of National Defense Resources (DGRDN) has been updated later” to the inspection report carried out in the DGRDN and the Air Force “on the recruitment and suitability of companies that performed the work” in the former Belen military hospital.
“If yes, what are the main changes made?” they ask, also wanting to know “why the Directorate General of National Defense Resources has not published on its website the monitoring reports of the aforementioned Corruption Risk Management Plan.” and related violations relating to 2021 and 2022”, asking whether they were committed.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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