The end of the public screen
Working on European or other projects with a public entity has its perks: no bank guarantee is required. That was the “deal.” And that was what employers’ associations—seemingly—lived on, seeking funds “left, right and center” because business organizations positioned themselves as subcontractors, given that Fundación Puertos de Las Palmas lacked staff and did not need to. With those projects and those funds, certain associations—presumably—short-circuited competition. Allegedly, and under the claim of having the state as a godfather, people in Madrid and Brussels were “out of touch with reality.”
Such was the lobbying they carried out that even at the Puertos de Las Palmas Awards, they distributed awards among members of their power circle, allegedly resulting in the civil-image assassination of companies and the isolation of professionals outside that network. Unos sin morales. But morality is voluntary.
Canarymaritime’s advance
As Canarymaritime revealed exclusively, Fundación Puertos de Las Palmas will stop operating as the port employers’ body’s public front. The agreement reached this Friday by the Board of Patronage and the General Assembly of the entity has set in motion mechanisms for dissolution and radical restructuring of the institution. The port representatives have formalized a package of exceptional measures marking the definitive end of its current operating model. This collective resolution came in parallel with the approval of the entity’s accounts and as a direct response to the obligation to adopt “a series of measures following the internal audit report carried out by Puertos del Estado.” The Las Palmas City Council (PSOE) and Oneport opposed the annual accounts. The Cabildo de Gran Canaria (NC in the SPEGC as well) gave the green light.
Liquidation or privatization on the roadmap
The core of the resolution approved by the patronage places the institution in an imminent scenario of liquidation or legal transformation to remove its public nature. The patrons agreed “that the Port Authority should contract a legal report to update and complement the one carried out in 2017.” The purpose of this external opinion is “to analyze the current situation of the Foundation and assess its future options, which include either its transformation in accordance with the 2013 Ministerial Order, or its liquidation,” the official statement sent this Friday says.
The agreement text guarantees that essential port operations will be maintained under strict control during the transition process toward the entity’s closure. To that end, the patrons have agreed to “continue with the processes of award and tendering of those services that are considered necessary until the transformation or liquidation of the Foundation.” However, the resolution specifies that continuing these procedures “therefore entails the termination of minor contracts that, as of today, guarantee the Foundation’s daily operation,” dismantling the network of direct award arrangements.
Oversight by the IGAE
The Board and the Assembly have also resolved to provide the body with an interim management of a purely technical nature to pilot the dismantling. The agreement establishes proceeding with “the opening of a new selection process that continues the day-to-day management of the Foundation until its complete transformation or liquidation,” thus avoiding a power vacuum in the port’s institutional relationships while its disappearance is carried out.
The legal aspect of the agreement will go beyond the scope of the Port Authority of Las Palmas to enter the area of holding parties responsible. As the final executive item on the agenda, the patrons have formally approved “sending all documentation relating to the internal audit to the Intervención General Territorial.” This transfer shifts oversight of the accounts and the use of minor contracting to inspectors of the public administration, subjecting the balance sheet of the controversial foundation to external and final state control.
Resignation of the manager, Betsabé Morales
The first point—where this paragraph is placed because we already reported on it—is the “acceptance of the resignation submitted by the Foundation’s managing director, Betsabé Morales,” according to the official statement. The executive’s removal has been certified by mutual agreement after administrative objections raised against the legality of her appointment. Morales herself has justified her departure to the patrons by informing them that she is taking this decision “so that disagreements surrounding my appointment cause no harm either to the entity, to the patrons, or to the collaborators of the Foundation that I have had the honor of representing.”
End of the entry
The article “End of the public front run by the port employers’ body, as Canarymaritime had anticipated: Fundación Puertos de Las Palmas complies with Madrid’s Order 155” was first published by encanarymaritime.com.
