TdC detects illegalities in TAP contracts

The Court of Auditors (TdC) found that TAP executed several contracts without the mandatory prior approval, violating the law governing public expenditure. The findings were forwarded to the Public Prosecutor's Office.

According to the audit released this Monday, between 2023 and 2024 TAP, as a public company, entered into contracts for the acquisition of services and goods worth a total of close to 473 million euros.

Most of these individual contracts exceed 950 thousand euros and cover areas such as fuel supply, insurance, catering, maintenance and aircraft rental.

The Court of Auditors concluded that many of these contracts were executed before being sent for assessment or before the supervisory body's ruling, which is contrary to article 45 of the Law on the Organization and Procedure of the Court of Auditors (LOPTC).

According to Monday's report, in some cases, the contracts had already been paid in full when they came for inspection. TAP argued that the contracts were not, in its view, subject to prior inspection and that the circumstances involved an imperative urgency, due to the risk of financial and reputational consequences in the event of non-execution.

One of the cases highlighted is the fuel supply contract for 67 airports, which began in April 2023 and was valued at €554.7 million, and which aimed to avoid flight cancellations and ensure compliance with the restructuring plan approved by Brussels. However, the Court found these justifications to be legally invalid.

In addition to the supply of fuel, the TdC identified irregularities in contracts such as the catering service in Boston, worth 6.1 million euros, or the mandatory insurance against accidents at work, worth 14.5 million euros, executed without prior approval.

After analyzing all the information, the judges of the Court of Auditors approved the report which concluded that the execution of contracts prior to their inspection was illegal, recommended that TAP strictly comply with legal regulations and set the fees due by the company at 9,049.73 euros.

As is usual in cases where illegalities are detected, the case was referred to the Public Prosecutor's Office, which will now decide whether to proceed to trial or archive the case.