António Pedro Santos / Lusa
The inspector general of the General Inspectorate of Finance, Antonio Manuel Ferreira dos Santos
The MP considers that the General Inspectorate is blocking investigations by preventing access to important documents. The General Inspectorate of Finance states that it cannot give access to documents from external entities.
The Recovery and Resilience Plan Audit Committee (PRR), led by the General Inspector of Finance, is being accused of having hindered the Public Prosecutor’s Office (MP) access to relevant documents, compromising investigations of crimes such as fraud and corruption.
In a recent report, the responsible prosecutor denounced that the agency “made access to most documents unfeasible” requested, including external audits and minutes. The General Inspectorate of Finance denies the accusations.
According to the prosecutor, the law guarantees the MP full access to the documentation from the PRR Audit Commission (CAC). However, access was refused under the pretext that certain documents belong to external entitiessuch as the European Commission or the European Court of Auditors, explains the . According to the MP, this refusal limits the ability to monitor and identify risks of failure or fraud in the PRR.
The report also points out that the lack of information led the MP to not comment on progress in correcting flaws previously found, related to corruption, conflicts of interest and double financing. Furthermore, essential audits were stopped between October 2023 and April 2024, being resumed only after the change of Government.
The MP also highlights flaws in the management of complaints and the analysis of possible cases of double financing. Complaints made by intermediate beneficiaries are not handled adequately, with cases of lack of anonymity or incorrect routing. Regarding double financing, the MP denounces that PRR projects may be illegally benefiting from other European funds, but the analyzes carried out do not include at least four of these funds.
The General Inspectorate of Finance refutes the accusations and justifies that the documentation relating to external entities is their responsibility. As for the audit schedule, it claims that it is in line with the European Commission.
