Africa-Press – Angola. The Ministry of Finance issued a statement, through which it denies the existence of an estimated debt of the equivalent of US$66 million, claimed by Prisma Comercial Lda.
As stated, in accordance with the order of the Minister of Finance, of 21 April 2016, the Spot Verification process was initiated, carried out by a team assigned to the General Inspectorate of Finance (IGF), which aimed to certify whether the amount claimed by the company Prisma, Lda, in the global amount of USD 66,312,743, corresponded to the services provided.
In the context of the documentary verification carried out on the documents and probative elements that would support the debt, he writes, this Ministerial Department found that the amount claimed by the company in the global amount of USD 66,312,743 did not meet the legal requirements required by article 9 of Resolution No. 01/ 02, of 22 January, to validate the debt for the corresponding period.
According to the Ministry of Finance, the debts ascertained and recognized by the Center for Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation of Luanda, the Ministry of Economy and Planning and the Ministry of Commerce, and, therefore, which met the legal requirements for regularization, in the amount of Kz 15,586 619.49 and Kz 71,749,729.44 were fully settled and paid. Said payment was made in accordance with the Settlement Agreements DPI/176/2005, of 23 October and also by DPI/138/2007, of 19 July and 356/GSEFT/MINFIN/2019, of 7 October.
In the document that responds to the public accusations of the complainant company, the Ministry of Finance states that with the signing of the aforementioned Debt Settlement Agreements, Prisma Comercial accepted the proposed amount and expressly waived the collection of any additional amounts.
Therefore, the complaints continue – the first, dated May 5, 2021, demanding from the State the payment of USD 795,740.00, equivalent to Kz 370,472,671 and the second, dated May 24, 2021, demanding the payment of USD 246 819 236, equivalent to Kz 161 765 327 274 – published 17 months after the conclusion of the Settlement Agreement appears to the Ministry to be tainted with manifest bad faith and unconfessed intent.
In its defence, the Ministry of Finance claims to always guide its action, among others, by the principles of legality, decision, pursuit of the public interest, respect for the rights and interests of citizens, so that, by virtue of paragraph 1 of article 13 of Law nº 2/94, of 14 January, Law of Impugnation of Administrative Acts, in case of dissatisfaction, the complainant had a period of 30 days to present his complaint or hierarchical appeal, counting from the date of execution of the Agreement referred to in the previous point and did not.
“Therefore, as the complainant has already been informed in different meetings held by the direction of this ministerial Department, at the level of the Ministry of Finance, the matter is considered closed, while, in the face of the complaint of illicit payment to a third party, it advises through evidence, recourse to the competent instances of the State for investigation and eventual accountability”, he recommends.
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