By Andrea Hargraves 
The Board of Auditors analyzed the legality of the contract of possession of the municipality of Funchal for access cards to the bathing complexes operated by the municipal company Frente MarFunchal, signed in May 2019, after discovering numerous irregularities. As a result, those involved in the operation were sentenced to pay a fine of 2,550 euros, on pain of appearing in court.
Concretely, the contention is the fact that, in June 2019, the municipality paid all 1,600 contracted cards, worth €292,000 (with VAT), despite the fact that, up to that date, FMLN had Only 1,070 cards were submitted, “thus subverting the financial logic, which dictates that payment of goods should be made only after checking the timing and regularity of their delivery (in terms of quantity and quality),” the court notes.
In the report available in the file
web page, notes that “the picture is becoming more erratic, since in May 2020, almost a year after the contract was signed, it still had to issue and deliver 530 cards by the MarFunchal Front, which translates to the rate of physical fulfillment of the contract, until then Only 66.9%.
This action involved the municipality and Frente MarFunchal, between May 2019 and May 2020, i.e. during the period of the “Confianca” alliance, and the Court of Audit blamed the former Mayors of the Chamber of Paolo Cavuvo (until May 31, 2019) and Miguel Silva Gouía (until May 2020) , council member Madalena Nunes and Nelson Abreu, Frente Mar Funchal’s director at the time.
The Court of Auditors also concluded that the Municipality of Funchal, in the first place, “did not succeed in demonstrating that the price of the goods purchased was comparable to the prices followed, at that time, in the market for the supply of similar goods., and also failed to demonstrate compliance with the principles of economy, efficiency, effectiveness and rational use.” For the approved credits when determining the conditions for purchasing entry cards, that is, by not justifying the judicial-administrative option not to obtain these cards.Under the cover of the tariff imposed by the municipal company In front of MarFunchal, reinforcing indications that the main objective of the contract was to finance the local company.”
On the other hand, he notes that “the physical and financial implementation of the contract was poorly planned and insufficiently controlled, as the regulation of the conditions for accessing and attribution of cards was not previously defined, nor the criteria for selecting specific cardholders and the entities involved in their distribution, just as procedures were not established to monitor and control contractual implementation.”
In addition to heavy criticism, the Audit Bureau recommends the following:
a) “Paragraph 2 of Article 36 of the legal regime for local business and local contributions is to be taken into account in future contracts, ensuring that the price of goods to be obtained from local companies is approximated to market prices for an equal supply/comparable goods, as well as ensuring compliance to the principles of economy, efficiency, effectiveness and rational use of approved credits, and
b) That the list of conditions for obtaining, allocating and selecting social support within the framework of his initiative is drawn up, in advance and in a timely manner, and that all procedures for monitoring and controlling the material implementation and financial contracting are put in place.