The PCP questioned the Minister of Finance about the sale of six EDP dams to a consortium led by Engie, considering that the two companies benefited from a “tax free”and that the government is in collusion.
In a question sent to the Minister of Finance, Fernando Medina, through the Assembly of the Republic, the PCP deputy Duarte Alves recalls that, “in December 2020, EDP closed the sale of six dams for more than 2,200 million euros to the consortium led by Engie”.
This operation once again exposed the ruinous privatization of EDP carried out by the PSD/CDS government, an operation that the PCP, from the outset, rejected and from which it warned of the resulting problems”, the document reads. .
The PCP emphasizes that “this privatization, among other problems that it entails, has allowed the segmentation of the concession for the production of electrical energy, posing new risks for the national system of electrical energy production and an even greater loss of sovereignty in the management of this strategic sector“.
The party also mentions that, “this business was associated with a tax free that benefited EDP and Engie, since through various tax planning schemes, these companies intend to avoid paying Stamp Duty, IMI and IMT.”
“It is unacceptable that while earned income taxes continue to support the bulk of tax revenue, a business of 2,200 million euros is exempt from any taxsubtracting from the country and the region resources that could be invested in their development”, emphasizes the PCP.
In the document, the party also mentions that, in view of this situation, it presented draft resolutions in 2020 and 2021 in which it recommended to the Government “not to authorize the request for the sale of the concessions of the assets of the National Electric System by EDP”. . ”.
After two years of struggle by the peoples of Miranda do Douro, Mogadouro and Vimioso, and the intervention of the PCP in this matter, the question of the enormous tax exemption that this business represented remains to be resolved, with investigations that extend into time and the Government to be in collusion with this fraud”, accuses the PCP.
The PCP also indicates that this situation is taking place while, at the same time, “the decision to return 218 million euros in IMI to EDP, related to the Fridão dam” is known, taken by “an arbitral tribunal” and not by a “state court.”
According to the party, this type of court constitutes “a form of private justicein which the public interest is almost always injured”.
Given this context, the PCP asks Fernando de Medina “what is the status of the investigations that have been carried out in the field of Sale of EDP dams” and “what results have already been achieved”.
What measures will the Government adopt to collect the taxes owed for the business carried out between EDP and Engie, whether in the form of Documented Legal Acts, IMI or IMT, demanding what is owed to the region of Miranda do Douro, Mogadouro and Vimioso, as well as the country?
Finally, regarding the decision of the IMI arbitral tribunal on the Fridão dam, the PCP asks the Minister of Finance if “the Government can guarantee that, whether in relation to any dispute related to the process of the Miranda dams, or in relation to other administrative and fiscal procedures that involve private energy groups, it will not go to arbitration courts, resorting only to state courts to assert the public interest”.
Source: Observadora
