The Commission of Audit (CA) has finished the performance audit report “Operation and Management of the Commission for Motor Vehicles Evaluation” in which it revealed the Commission for Motor Vehicles Evaluation (CAVM in the Portuguese abbreviation) of the Financial Services Bureau has been meeting excessively and unreasonably. The remunerations paid to members of the Commission to take part in the meetings held from 2006 to 2008 totaled over four million patacas. Had CAVM managed the meetings in the lines recommended by CA, legally and reasonably, the result would be a saving of 80% of the expenses effectively incurred, i.e. a saving over three million patacas of public money.
In his reply to CA, the Secretary for Economy and Finance, Tam Pak Yuen, declared that he was very apprehensive with the revelations reported in “Operation and Management of the Commission for Motor Vehicles Evaluation” and, considering that it signals the three members of CAVM who are civil service workers may have incurred in disciplinary infringements, he has proposed to the Chief Executive to initiate disciplinary procedures against them.
In the audit, CA found the CAVM has explored the loopholes of the regime to decompose the matters deliberated in the meetings in order to be able to draft more minutes, which, in effect, inflated the number of meetings and, consequently, the remunerations to unreasonable proportions. The result was, in average, each meeting convened would become more than four meetings, with a maximum of eight, and the remunerations due totaled 4,288,470.00 patacas. According to the recommendations made by CA, with the meetings run within the legality and reasonability, the result would be a saving of around 80% of the expenses effectively incurred, i.e. a saving of 3,421,270.00 patacas of public money. Additionally, the present regime lacks effective monitoring. CA found that CAVM looked but didn’t see that public money was being squandered, since to CAVM management attitude towards job organization and the notion of saving public money didn’t exist.
CA found that three official members of the CAVM also exercised other public functions (with a maximum of eight functions) during 2006 and 2007, resulting in total earnings higher than the annual limit prescribed by law, ranging the amounts in excess from 26,325.00 patacas (ca. 3%) to 639,450.00 patacas (ca. 70%).
Regarding the operation and management of CAVM, the Commission of Audit found that both effective and substitute members took part in same meetings and receiving both remunerations; some members from the car industry didn’t observe the regime of impediment consistently when in situation of conflict of interests; the meetings’ minutes were incomplete; and, there were overpayment and underpayment to CAVM members for their participation in the meetings.
The Commission of Audit recommends that clear norms and procedural instructions should be laid down to regulate the running of the meetings and the convening of them according to effective needs; the sense of responsibility of the workers should be enhanced so that good and proactive internal control effects could surge; the initiative of the workers to inform the competent organs whenever they are in the situation of exceeding the annual remuneration limit and, consequently, to reimburse the unduly received amounts should be promoted; it must be rigorously observed that substitute members may only participate in meetings, and consequently be remunerated, when their respective effective members cannot attend, due to absence or impediment; and, finally, CAVM should seriously consider the principles of the hypothetic model presented in the audit report, should be more economical in resources application and should make the meetings more efficient and effective.
