Former Secretary of State for Defense Marco Capitão Ferreira, who resigned after being accused in Operation “Perfect Storm” on suspicion of corruption, left IdD – Portugal Defense, the holding company that manages the companies in the Defense industry in which the State, with 3.6 million euros to be settled with Finance.
The dispute, which is detailed in the 2021 IdD report and accounts – the Captain Ferreira’s first and only full year as Chairman of the Board (CA) – relates to the remaining assets of the liquidation of the extinct EMPORDEF (of which he also chaired the liquidation committee) that were owned by the state and transferred to IdD in the restructuring started in June 2020 .
Bee general meeting held in November 2022 for the approval of the annual accounts 2020 (long overdue), the shareholder statement has determined that: “given the registration, in the annual accounts of idD for the financial year ending on 31-12-2020, of a series of credits on subsidiaries of the extinct EMPORDEF, SGPS. SA, for an amount of EUR 3.6 million, circumstance that does not deserve the agreement of the sole shareholder, insofar as these are assets transferred to the state after the process of extinction of EMPORDEF, the Executive Board is determined to take steps to adjust the accounts with respect to the year ended 12/31/2021, by the announcement of a financial liability beneficial to the state in the amount (3.6 million), to include the agreement advocated by the sole shareholder”.
Although, Marco Capitao Ferreira refutedarguing that “after listening to the supervisory bodies” they advised “not to reopen the accounts” and considered that they “in particular with regard to these matters, adequately cover all legal, legal, financial and accounting aspects reflect , the activities of registering credits on the subsidiaries in question of the extinct EMPORDEF”.
The current administration will pay
the situation of dispute also continued in 2022 and only with current administration chaired by Alexandra Pessanha (former member of Marco Capitão Ferreira) to IdD agreed to settle accounts with the General Directorate of Finance and Finance (D.G.T.F.).
“On the question of credits, the current collective agreement will comply with the stipulation of the state shareholder. The 2022 accounts are still dedicated to the implementation of the shareholder provision of acknowledgment of a debt to the State of € 3.6 millionarising from receivables from IdD subsidiaries. It is therefore expected that during the financial execution of 2023, the final analysis of these credits can be carried out in order to improve the financial information presented,” the official spokesperson assures.
This dispute may also have been one of the causes delays in approving IdD admin accounts since Marco Capitão Ferreira took over the administration until March 2022 when he went to government.
The 2021 report and accounts, which should have been approved in May 2022 (already with the extension of the pandemic), were published on the website a few days ago, but will only be discussed and approved at a general meeting by shareholder Estado in September.
The Technical Unit for Guidance and Supervision of Public Business (UTAM), the entity that oversees the financial management of this sector, also registers some omissions on its official page.
For example, in the list of “Suggestions for Activity plans and budget for the trienium 2022-2024The one for the IdD is “not received”. The one for the period 2023-2025 is “under analysis”.
The previous ones were “analyzed”, but neither UTAM nor the Ministry of Finance provide the conclusions and/or recommendations.
For example, IdD calls a UTAM’s “favorable” opinion of its Business Plan announced after the 2020 restructuring, which included “accelerating the implementation of the military programming law, namely with the construction of 6 new Ocean Patrol Vessels, worth €352 million, to be carried out between 2020-2029”.
This goal was achieved in a consultancy contract (for five million euros), approved by the Council of Ministers, which was rejected by the Court of Auditors as “invalid” (sic).
DN requested information about this advice and its monitoring from UTAM and the Ministry of Finance, but was refused.
suspended rents
In this debut year at IdD, as described in the accounts report, Marco Capitão Ferreira increased the number of directors from three to five and hired seven additional employees, contributing to the increase in personnel costs, which amounted to about two million euros (another 650 thousand euros), another 40 thousand in the vehicle fleet and another 18 thousand in travel and accommodation, among other things.
But despite hiring specialists, the man who entered Defense came at the hands of Nuno Severiano Teixeirawhen he was minister of this portfolio in 2008, and praised him demphasized his “solid virtues of character and relevant sense of public service”, it also spent about €320,000 on lawyers and advisers, DN reports.
One more question evoke doubt industry sources heard by DN, is the fact that Capitão Ferreira, and then his successors – first Catarina Nunes (which slammed the door in mid-February of this year) and now Alexandra Pessanha (staff of the Court of Auditors) – never paid rent for the facilities that serve as the IdD’s headquartersin the Bensaúde Palace in Lisbon, an iMinistry of Defense mobile.
As a state building, and in accordance with the “principle of onerosity” stipulated in the budget law, the payment of rent would be mandatory.
But that has not happened so far, despite the fact that the building, where the General Inspectorate of National Defense is also active, has been occupied since January 2022.
The aforementioned report regarding 2021 assumes that “according to the legislation in force and the application of the principle of onerous use, IdD – Portugal Defense will pay an income to the General Secretariat of the Ministry of National Defense”, the value of which , it is stressed, “still awaits the definition and presentation of a proposal by that entity”.
At the time, Marco Capitão Ferreira foresaw that they would be “in a first phase”less the amounts spent on requalification works carried out and the modernization of the technical infrastructure of part of the building (cabling, communications, security, etc.)”.
MDN official source says that “IdD – Portugal are Defense and the central services of the Ministry of National Defense set the values (…), a process that takes into account the necessary and carried out adaptation works”.
Taking into account that these “adaptation works” reached about half a million eurosif the value was comparable to the rent paid by the previous IdD structure in a building in Restelo (around 4000 euros/month), they would exemption about 11 years. Since the income is likely to be lower, the period will be even longer.
Financial management under the microscope
The prosecution of the Public Prosecution Service will take days of the “Perfect Storm” operation that investigated suspicions of defense corruption and has Marco Capitão Ferreira as one of the defendants.
It is not known whether he will be charged or not, as the matters he is accused of – an alleged “phantom” recruitment and a dubious payment of 61 thousand euros – ultimately cast doubts on his entire journey through the industrywhich may require a further separate criminal investigation.
Management at the IdD holding company of the man who João Gomes Cravinho praised him as “one of the few people with deep knowledge in this highly specialized field”. will be subject to an audit by the Court of Auditors, at the request of the Guardianship and Parliament.
In 2021, IdD ended the year with 4.3 million losses.
Source: DN
