Anyone who thought the Viga d'Ouro case was dead and forgotten is wrong. The CDU executive of the Silves Chamber commissioned an external financial audit of the Municipality's accounts and now wants to proceed with a lawsuit against the two former presidents, Isabel Soares and Rogério Pinto, both from the PSD.
But, because the communist executive does not have a majority in the Chamber, President Rosa Palma's proposals ended up being rejected and motivated (more) a bitter exchange of accusations.
As revealed by the permanent executive of the Chamber of Silves, in a public statement, «the financial audit revealed the practice of various irregularities during the terms of office in which Dr. Maria Isabel Fernandes da Silva Soares and Dr. Rogério Santos Pinto (both elected by the PSD) were Presidents of the Municipality of Silves, namely in the public contracting of services, by direct agreement, to the company of civil construction “Viga D'Ouro” and the law firm “PLMJ”».
Rosa Palma: «the financial audit revealed the practice of various irregularities during the terms of office in which Dr. Maria Isabel Fernandes da Silva Soares and Dr. Rogério Santos Pinto (both elected by the PSD) were Presidents of the Municipality of Silves»
Taking into account these alleged irregularities, the executive chaired by Rosa Palma now wanted to send the audit report to the Court of Auditors, «for instruction in the process already underway for the determination of financial responsibilities», as well as to the Municipal Assembly of Silves, « for knowledge of its content'.
It also intended to “instruct the permanent municipal executive (CDU) to assess, in legal terms, the possibility of taking legal action against the local elected representatives of former executives directly involved in the “Viga d'Ouro” process, based on civil liability”.
The objective would be to "enable the compensation of damages caused to the municipal public treasury", this "without prejudice to what in the meantime would be determined and decided by the Court of Auditors, within the scope of its powers to investigate the financial responsibilities of holders of public office" .
But the councilors of the PSD (Rogério Pinto and Graça Neto) and the PS (Fernando Serpa and Paulo Pina), who together have the majority, voted against. Mainly because the opposition councilors consider that there is "political advantage" in the disclosure of the audit results a few days before the Legislative Elections, since, they accuse, the report has been in possession of the Rosa Palma executive since last February.
However, in his statement, the CDU executive does not speak of this temporal coincidence and points out that "unfortunately, the conduct adopted by the non-permanent council (PS and PSD) is irreconcilable with the transparency of the municipal public administration, the intransigent defense of the municipal public treasury and the effective determination of the responsibilities of local elected representatives within the scope of the “Viga D'Ouro” process».
And he guarantees that “he will not fail to defend” all these issues, “because the public interest and legality are at stake”.
Isabel Soares and Rogério Pinto, the former social-democratic edis questioned by the results of the external audit, said they were calm. Isabel Soares points out that "in due time, everything was clarified and forwarded to the competent authorities", while Rogério Pinto recalls that "the judicial process was filed in due time, after an audit was carried out, and after the president herself, to date Isabel Soares, having called the authorities and handed in all the documentation to be audited».
In fact, regarding possible responsibilities of Isabel Soares, in April 2012, the case for abuse of power against the Social Democratic mayor and two other councilors was dropped.
With regard to the new accusations resulting from the external audit, Isabel Soares and Rogério Pinto are still pondering what attitude to take in face of the accusations of being targeted again.
Municipality of PS/Silves: “the Socialist Party presented a proposal in order to respect the right to adversary proceedings, the basic principle of our law, in relation to those referred to in the report, while, according to the President, the Court will be sent soon. of Accounts of the final investigation report to the municipality's accounts”
On the other hand, socialist councilor Fernando Serpa, a lawyer, defends the negative vote of the two elected representatives of the PS with the need to guarantee “the right to contradict each other on the part of the two targeted mayors”.
Ana Sofia Belchior, president of the Political Commission of the Silves PS, yesterday released a statement in which it better explains this position, noting that «assuming a constructive position, the Socialist Party presented a proposal to respect the right to contradictory, a basic principle of our right, in relation to those referred to in the report, pending, according to the President, the sending by the Court of Auditors of the final report of the investigation to the accounts of the municipality.
The Silvese Socialists also accuse President Rosa Palma of not knowing the competences of a permanent municipal executive, as it is an "obligation" of those who "by right requested" the external audit and "for more than six months kept it closed [the report] in the drawer waiting for a better opportunity» to send such documents to the Court of Auditors and the Municipal Assembly of Silves, therefore, the communist mayor does not need to be mandated by the entire council to do so.
The same goes for the “evaluation of the timeliness to bring an action for extra-contractual civil liability against local elected representatives of former executives”, that is, the question of whether this is the time to proceed with such action. The PS asks: “Does the President need to be mandated to assess situations that may trigger legal actions with the Public Prosecutor's Office? So what are you doing here?».
The PS/Silves Council's communiqué also casts suspicion on the external audit itself, revealing that it was commissioned by the permanent executive, «by direct agreement in late 2013, to the company Pocalentejo – Apoio Contabilístico, Fiscal, Informático e Formação Lda., based in Borba, and which works almost exclusively for CDU municipalities”, the same political color as the permanent executive in Silves.
This award will have been made in December 2013 for 25 thousand euros (plus VAT), but such award, "as well as the tender procedure, contract documents and contract signed, was only communicated to the non-permanent executive on 16/9/2015, in the following up on questions raised during the discussion of the report'.
On the other hand, refer the socialists, «the report present at a Chamber meeting and now published on the municipality's website is presented as having been prepared by the company G. Marques – SROC, Lda. [and dated February 2015], headquartered in Marinha Grande, without ever making any reference to Pocalentejo, the company contracted to carry out the said audit».
Rosa Palma: hiring the company “Viga D'Ouro” suffered from “irregularities”, which “caused losses to the municipal public treasury in a minimum amount of four million euros, which the Municipality of Silves is now forced to pay”
As for the audit report, the Chamber of Silves summarizes that the hiring of the company “Viga D'Ouro” suffered from “irregularities”, which “caused losses to the municipal public treasury in a minimum amount of four million euros, which the Municipality of Silves now finds himself constrained to pay». These alleged irregularities “would have been committed with the knowledge of the Mayor of Silves at the time”, that is, Isabel Soares.
The external auditors also verified that, between 2006 and October 2013, “more than one million euros was spent by the municipality of Silvense on hiring the law firm “PLMJ”, without the legal requirement of compliance and prior assumption of financial commitment was, as a rule, guaranteed, implying the illegality of a large part of the payments made by local authorities at the time».
Through the external audit, it was also possible to verify that, at the end of the previous term (2009/2013), «the municipal accounts had relevant omissions in terms of expenditure and financial commitments, with the Municipality of Silves now faced with strong financial pressure, as more than 70% of the municipality's debt will have to be paid by 2017, namely the debts arising from the “Viga D'Ouro” process».
The PS, which in this, as in other issues, has always appeared allied with the PSD in the municipal executive, in turn, underlines the need for “accountability to be determined, if such responsibilities exist”. And he says that it is necessary to wait, calmly, for the decision of the Court of Auditors, which will be forthcoming.
Click here for all documents regarding the External Audit commissioned by the Chamber of Silves.
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