Parliament approved this Wednesday, with the abstention of the PS, a PSD request for an additional audit, by the Court of Auditors, of the contracting and acquisition processes of idD – Portugal Defense, between 2020 and 2022.
The Social Democrat Jorge Paulo Oliveira justified in the Committee on Budget and Finance the relevance of this request, even after the Minister of Defense asked the Court of Auditors to carry out a financial audit of idD Portugal Defense (the ‘holding’ holding public manages participations in Defense companies), as this request has “a specific, urgent and imposing character”.
According to the PSD deputy, an audit is proposed specifically to the “idD contract and acquisition processes” of 2020, 2021 and 2022.
“This audit is very specific, unlike the audit proposed by the government, which is generic and global,” he stressed, also underlining its urgent nature and the fact that it is mandatory, as it stems from a parliamentary right .
For the PS group, Miguel Cabrita also considered that this request does not conflict with the request already made by Helena Carreiras to ask the PSD to replace the phrase “to all processes of contracting and taking over of idD” by only “to the processes of contracting and taking over idD”, giving the court more “flexibility”.
The socialist deputy stressed that the “government took the timely initiative to request an audit of idD’s accounts” and “is doing so in a broader context of strengthening audits, inspections and controls of the various entities of the sector “.
Duarte Alves, from the PCP, agreed with the importance of the audit — as did João Cotrim de Figueiredo, from IL — and emphasized that the urgency means it will be a priority compared to other audits already at the Court requested by the deputies of the committee.
The PSD’s request comes after the resignation of former Secretary of State for Defense Marco Capitão Ferreira, accused of Operation “Perfect Storm” and suspected of crimes of corruption and economic participation in business.
Before taking up government positions, Marco Capitão Ferreira was Chairman of the Board of Directors of idD Portugal Defense and Director of OGMA, SA, from 2020 to 2022.
Defense Minister Helena Carreiras and former portfolio holder and current foreign minister João Gomes Cravinho will be heard in parliament on Friday “about the publicly disclosed facts” about Marco Capitão Ferreira.
Source: DN
