Joaquim Miranda Sarmento, Minister of Finance, said this Wednesday, November 5, that “it is untimely” to count on the collection of taxes from the sale of the six EDP dams in the Douro “in the coming years”, remembering that “any taxpayer has the right to litigate”.
Miranda Sarmento said, on the sidelines of the conference “The Power of Making It Happen”, organized by Jornal de Negócios, in Lisbon, that she was not aware of whether the Public Ministry (MP) had taken any decision regarding the suspicions of tax fraud in the sale of six EDP dams to Engie.
This Wednesday’s news indicated that the MP shelved the suspicions of tax fraud in the sale of dams, but concluded that the State has to receive 335.2 million euros in “missing taxes”.
The minister pointed out that “the Tax Authority (AT) has one year to, or eventually, settle the tax”, and it may not even do so, stressing that this “is a competence of the Tax Authority, it is not a competence of the Government or the Minister of Finance”.
“The AT analyzes the tax situation of any taxpayer and decides whether or not to settle the tax”, he pointed out, and “if it decides to settle taxes, whatever the amount, any taxpayer has the right to litigate, to go to tax litigation”.
Miranda Sarmento thus highlighted that “any taxpayer has the right to litigate”, so “it is untimely to talk about any amount of tax collection this year, or next year, or in the coming years”.
The inquiry that investigated the sale of Portuguese electricity plants to the French consortium led by Engie came to an end at the end of October.
At issue is the sale of the Miranda, Bemposta and Picote dams (run-of-river plants) and the Foz Tua, Baixo Sabor and Feiticeiro dams (reservoir plants with pumping), which the Portuguese electricity company sold for 2,200 million euros to a French Movhera consortium, formed by the companies Engie (40%), Crédit Agricole Assurances (35%) and Mirova – Grupo Natixis (25%).
The Central Department of Investigation and Criminal Action (DCIAP) understood that the operation did not have criminal implications, having dismissed the suspicions of the crime of tax fraud.
However, the Public Prosecutor’s Office understands that there are taxes to be paid and, therefore, according to the last part of the order, to which Lusa had access, it orders AT “to proceed with the collection of missing taxes that have not been paid”.
In total, the MP calculates that the State has to receive 120.9 million in Stamp Tax, 99.6 million euros in IMT (Municipal Tax on Onerous Property Transfers) and 114.7 million euros in IRC. Interest will be added to the 335.2 million euros.