It’s one of the most indebted councils in the country and it’s the fifth worst payer when it comes to municipal bills – and from Monday morning this week, Portimão Câmara is also in the eye of the nation’s tax inspectors.
An audit of the town council’s last administration (running from 2009-2013), as well as its disgraced municipal company Portimão Urbis, began this week under the auspices of IGF, the ‘Inspeção-Geral de Finanças’, confirmed the town hall in a press statement.
Alongside this investigation, private auditors have been brought in by mayoress Isilda Gomes also to unravel the workings of the last administration led by Socialist Manuel da Luz.
Portimão lives a dramatic financial situation, having closed 2012 with debts of over €166 million. It is the fifth council nationwide to take the longest time to pay its suppliers – averaging a delay in payments of 801 days.
And when it comes to Portimão Urbis, the report and accounts show debts of €18 million – which represents an increase in debt of €3.3 million on the year before.
Former mayor Manuel da Luz, who ran Portimão for the maximum three mandates (12 years) accepted last year that there had been “serious errors” in the management of Portimão Urbis, but he has always maintained that he was unaware of any of them.
These latest investigations with any luck will unravel the mysteries, as former deputy mayor Luís Carito and the head of Portimão Urbis Jorge Campos await trial on charges of corruption and mismanagement of funds.
Meantime, Portimão Câmara has asked for a €93 million loan from the government, but has still to hear whether it will qualify for one.
