"We publicly request the Public Prosecutor's Office (MP) and the PGR that, within the scope of their powers, they carry out the necessary steps so that the Tax Authority (AT) settles the taxes due, in time to avoid discussions about the statute of limitations of the right to settlement, which will only serve the concessionaires and the ongoing strategy to free them from paying what they legally owe", reads an open letter typed to the PGR, which Lusa had access to today.

According to the same missive, the Cultural Movement of the Land of Miranda (MCTM) is convinced that "at the end of the year, if nothing is done, the right to settle the taxes due for the sale of the dams will expire: the Stamp Duty, the IMT and the IRC, and that will only serve the concessionaires and the ongoing strategy to free them from paying what they legally owe".

"For almost three years we have known that a criminal investigation is underway, carried out by the Central Department of Investigation and Criminal Action (DCIAP), due to evidence of aggravated tax fraud", it states.

The MCTM also adds that: "excusing itself with the pending criminal investigation, the Director-General of the AT declared, in a parliamentary hearing, that it will not settle the taxes due until its conclusion".

"Under the terms of the law, the settlement of taxes does not depend on a criminal investigation, and the AT has all the conditions to carry it out. In cases of tax crimes, the law establishes, on the contrary, that the settlement of the tax due is a presupposition of the crime", emphasizes the MCTM, in the open letter.

According to this civic movement, "until now, the AT has only settled the IMI on the dams, after persistent denunciation of its inaction by this movement and by the municipalities and, even so, it did so illegally and with serious violations of the law, forced by three dispatches from the Secretary of State who supervised it, which it successively violated".

On April 29, the MCTM urged the Government to settle the taxes due for the dams business, warning of the danger of the statute of limitations of the IMI of 2020 and of 100 million euros of Stamp Duty.

The movement guarantees that it is up to the Government to ensure this settlement of taxes, as the top body of the executive power, adding that it is a legal obligation and not a faculty.

The movement also recalled that 18 years have passed since an opinion from the Attorney General's Office (PGR) established, with binding character, that dams must pay IMI.

The movement had already accused, in early November, the leaders of the AT and the Portuguese Environment Agency of intending to benefit EDP in the sale of dams and in mid-October had already requested the resignation of the director-general of the AT, Helena Borges.

In January, the Miranda do Douro Council filed a criminal complaint against "unknown individuals" at the PGR in Lisbon, for the annulment of IMI matrices of dams since 2007, and have now been notified of the opening of the respective inquiry, councilor Vítor Bernardo confirmed to Lusa today.

In statements to Lusa in January, the mayor explained that the complaint targeted people "who have held public office since 2007, to the present, but who represent or have represented public office in entities related to the annulment of the Municipal Property Tax (IMI) matrices, including the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA), Tax Authority, Directorate-General of the Treasury, among others".

On Friday, the Jornal Económico reported the opening of an inquiry by the Public Prosecutor's Office to investigate the role of the AT and the Portuguese Environment Agency in the non-collection of IMI on the dams sold by EDP to Engie.

The fiscal aspect of the dams jumped to the media agenda following the sale by EDP of six dams in Trás-os-Montes (Miranda do Douro, Picote, Bemposta, Baixo Sabor, Feiticeiro and Tua), for 2.2 billion euros, to a consortium led by Engie.

Read Also: MP investigates the role of the AT in the non-collection of IMI from dams (Portuguese version)