The PS Parliamentary Group today requested a parliamentary hearing, as a matter of urgency, with the Regional Secretary for Tourism, Environment and Culture, Eduardo Jesus – who is also the President of the Madeira Promotion Association – so that the government can give explanations andascertain responsibilities for a contract between The Madeira Promotion Association and Nova Expressão ‘Nova Expressão.
“At issue is a contract between the Madeira Promotion Association, which was to be paid by public funds, transferred by the Regional Government, to media agency ‘Nova Expressão ‘Nova Expressão,’ for the acquisition of digital production services, planning, execution, monitoring and purchase of space for digital advertising campaigns, out of home, cinema, radio, television and press. The contract, as mentioned in a previous article, was signed on the 19th of March this year.
“According to the Court of Auditors, three illegalities were detected, the first of which was the erroneous fixing and subsequent misleading and incorrect publication of a vastly reduced contract figure, 170. 000.00 euros as opposed to the estimated figure of 11. 137. 200.00 euros, violating the legal rules that impose pre-contractual transparency and the promotion of open competition to the largest possible number of economic operators,” explains the PS Parliamentary Group.
Secondly, there was an erroneous fixing and subsequent misleading and incorrect publication of the real base price in the Diário da República, and the composite contractual price fixing of 170,000.00 euros, in contradiction with the economic reality of the contract and the specifications.
In the opinion of Deputy Gonçalo Leite Velho, the investigation of these illegalities on public contracts, which involve a value that reaches 11 million euros, requires the Regional Legislative Assembly to ascertain the responsibilities for this situation, so the socialists urgently require a parliamentary hearing.
In this context, the PS wants to hear from the president of the Madeira Promotion Association and the Regional Secretary for Tourism, Environment, and Culture, Eduardo Jesus, to clarify, respectively, the procedures that were involved and the executive consequences, taking into account what was found by the Court of Auditors.
Likewise, the socialists ask for a parliamentary hearing with the executive director of the Madeira Promotion Association, to provide clarification on the tender and contracting procedures and the management model, and with the general director of the company ‘Nova Expressão’ to explain the tender procedure, as well as the nature and form of contractual execution.
As Gonçalo Leite Velho reports, making use of its supervisory role, the PS Parliamentary Group intends, with this hearing, to obtain clarifications that allow us to know the procedures that gave rise to these illegalities and ensure that responsibilities are assumed.
Samantha Gannon
info at madeira-weekly.com
