Paolo Margari / Flickr
More than 6.6 million euros were spent illegally between 2017 and 2022 on purchases of flowers and artistic decorations, insurance, telecommunications and even lawyers.
In July 2021, an anonymous complaint led to an audit of several Fundação Casa da Música (FCM) contracts.
During the process, which is already 3 years old, the administration said that was not required to comply with public procurement rulesand rejected having committed illegalities.
Now, the Court of Auditors (TdC) has proven that the illegalities were committed.
At the time of the audit, Casa da Música was directed by José Pena do Amaral and Rui Amorim de Sousa, but the TdC declared that it was transferred to the Public Ministry to determine responsibilities. For now, none of the administrators will be held financially responsible for illegalities.
In the document released this Monday by the TdC, it is read that FCM “acquired insurance services from various sectors and various companies insurance companies”, as well as “accommodation/lodging services” and “flowers and artistic decorations (…) without any prior procedure”. In the case of decorations, there was not even “written formalization”, says the .
“It was found that, with the exception of the contract for the acquisition of telecommunications services, preceded by prior consultation and signed on 02/01/2016, the other service acquisitions had already been taking place since previous years (2005, 2007, 2013)”, the document also states.
According to , the institution guarantees that the decorations had artistic character, “of unpredictable demandand that consultations were made with other companies. He also said that it became reimbursed two expenses by private companies, but none of these arguments convinced the Court’s judges”, writes the newspaper.
In the case of hotel services, the final contract was not even published on the government portal. The TdC denounces that Even legal advice was hired irregularly.
Despite the irregularities committed until 2022, the TdC admits that Casa da Música has regularized procedures and, today, it almost fully complies with the Public Contracts Code, so it will only be subject to a fee of 5500 euros.
