PS Penafiel leader Paulo Araújo Correia accused the PSD/CDS majority house this Friday of illegal acts in contracting with the companies of five municipal deputies, facts that he said had already been submitted to the judiciary.
According to the leader, the municipality led by Antonino Souza did not take into account the judgment of the Supreme Administrative Court (STA), which defines it as illegal contracting by municipalities with companies in which they participate in management. bodies, deputies of the municipal assembly.
At a press conference held at the county seat, Paulo Araújo Correia also referred to the opinion on this issue dated January 27, 2023 of the Commission for the Coordination and Regional Development of the North (CCDR-N), requested by the chamber after the issue was discussed at the municipal meeting in 2022 at the initiative of IU.
According to the document, which was circulated to journalists this Friday, “if a member of the municipal assembly is a member of the governing bodies, a manager, an industrial or capital partner of a commercial or civil society, or a liberal professional engaged in an isolated practice, or in an irregular society, may entail subsequently disqualified if the entity, or itself, comes to sign a service contract or public works contract with autarchy.”
The leader of the socialist council concluded that, given the current legal framework, municipal deputies who had commercial relations with the chamber should renounce their mandates, and, as he noted, one of them had already done so at the request of the chamber itself.
If this does not happen, he added, the PS will report the facts to the prosecutor’s office for a possible deprivation of the mandate.
The Socialists also want members of the executive branch (president and councilors) to take any political responsibility in this matter, recognizing that they may have to answer for evading justice, as has happened to other mayors in similar situations.
On the other hand, Paulo Araújo Correia added that the party had already reported the situation to the Court of Accounts, given that the “illegal” contracts represented a fee of 175 thousand euros for the municipality, a cost that is recognized to the elected leader who signed contracts may have to be handed over to the state on a personal basis.
On this occasion, the mayor told reporters on Friday that the hiring occurred because the municipality had two opinions, from 2020 and 2022, from the Commission for Coordination and Regional Development of the Center, as well as from the legal services of the municipality. this “indicated a lack of illegitimacy due to the fact that elements of the municipal assembly did not interfere with the dynamics of hiring.”
Despite this, he noted, given the doubts expressed by the PS, it was the PSD/CDS autarky that approached the CCDR-N for an opinion.
“This opinion, which was published on Thursday, contradicts the opinion that the CCNR Center prepared in 2020 and that later, in 2022, it expressed itself again, maintaining the same position,” he said, adding: “CCNR-N takes a different opinions and believes that members of municipal assemblies should not be hired.”
The chief executive signaled that “from the moment this issue was raised” it was resolved immediately, “giving clear instructions to the services so that this does not happen again.”
For Antonino Souza, this issue is outdated and currently “there is no valid contract with the members of the municipal assembly”.
Regarding the differences of opinion between the two coordinating commissions, the chief executive commented: “This diversity of opinion clearly shows that there is no legal certainty on this issue.”
The divergence of opinion was also expressed by the PS, which considered that there was an error in the CCDR-C opinion, since it was based on the STA case law decision of 2003, ignoring that there was another, from the same court of 2019, pointing to the illegality of such employment involving members of municipal assemblies.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
I’m Sandra Hansen, a news website Author and Reporter for 24 News Reporters. I have over 7 years of experience in the journalism field, with an extensive background in politics and political science. My passion is to tell stories that are important to people around the globe and to engage readers with compelling content.