“We won. After years of denouncing tax evasion by EDP in the sale of dams, we finally succeeded in getting EDP to pay the taxes owed to the State. The Public Prosecutor’s Office analyzed this transaction and reached exactly the conclusion that we had already reached and that we have been denouncing over the years,” stated Mariana Mortágua in a video posted on Instagram.
In a statement, the PCP praised “the struggle and intervention of the populations of Miranda do Douro, Mogadouro, and Vimioso, who have always contested this process,” and reaffirmed the need for “intervention by the tax authorities and others to ensure the involved companies pay the full taxes owed.”
The Public Prosecutor’s Office (MP) dismissed the suspicions of tax fraud in the sale of six dams from EDP to Engie, but concluded that the State is due 335.2 million euros in “unpaid taxes.”
The Central Department of Investigation and Penal Action (DCIAP) determined that the operation did not have criminal elements, having shelved suspicions of tax fraud.
However, the Public Prosecutor’s Office considers there are taxes to be paid and, therefore, according to the final part of the decision, instructs the Tax and Customs Authority (AT) “to proceed with the collection of unpaid taxes.”
According to the coordinator of BE, the restructuring presented by EDP “was nothing more than a sham to avoid paying the taxes owed from the sale of the dams,” and for this reason, “the MP now states that EDP will have to pay 114 million in undue corporate tax (IRC), 121 million in stamp duty, and 99.6 million in municipal property transfer tax (IMT).”
Mariana Mortágua stated that the State will receive 335.2 million euros because “there were those who did not give up, due to a convergence of wills” among political parties, civil society, organizations, and municipalities, allowing for the recovery of these funds now.
In a statement, the PCP argued that the “strategic dimension — fresh water reserves, electricity production, etc. –” of the six dams for the country “cannot be subordinated to the logic of maximum dividend distribution to EDP shareholders.”
The party also highlighted “the need for intervention by the tax authorities and others” to “reassess the entire concession process of dams resulting from the privatization of EDP.”
The inquiry, completed at the end of October, focused on 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) for 2.2 billion euros to a French consortium from Movhera, formed by Engie (40%), Crédit Agricole Assurances (35%), and Mirova – Natixis Group (25%).
“Beyond the fiscal dimension, which includes the collusion of successive PS and PSD/CDS governments that provided cover for the favors granted in the meantime — stamp duty, corporate tax, and municipal property transfer tax (IMT) — the PCP also considers the entire process of privatization, segmentation, and alienation of EDP’s assets, including the six dams in question, detrimental to national interest,” the communists argue.
