Black hole in Estoril's 'Moto GP 2012' accounts

A long-running investigation into the Moto GP 2012 event at the Estoril Autodromo has revealed a black hole in the accounts where €2.6 million should be.

Sintra's Department of Criminal Investigation has discovered that just over €2.6 million in subsidies simply has vanished from the 2010 and 2011 accounts.

The investigation launched by the Public Prosecutor in 2016 is looking into the murky business surrounding the 2012 Moto GP which took place at the Autodromo do Estoril.

Público newspaper said in its Sunday edition that the investigation has revealed the missing money, taking the total bill for taxpayers up to around the €6 million mark.

The Portuguese State, aka 'taxpayers', owns 100% of Circuito do Estoril, through Parpública.

"The investigators now want to know why the €2.6 million were initially counted, who counted them and if there was intention to falsify the accounts to facilitate hosting the Moto GP 2012," the paper writes.

Comments  

+1 #10 nogin the nog 2019-07-08 19:26

hmm
What ever is going on here has nothing to do with the said missing funds. Sounds like a witch hunt or a means of discrediting the organizers of this venue..

+2 #9 Brandon 2019-07-06 11:11

Quoting Rob:

What is missing from the professional qualification of accountants is some acknowledgement of ethics and morality. An examination paper in Ethics in Accounting, perhaps?

Ethics is covered in a standard accounting degree and the national regulating bodies that issue accountants with registration/licences are meant to monitor adherence. At least that's how it works in first world countries, not sure about here?

In the recent past the so called "first world" accountants at, Carillion, Serco, Co-op Bank, Patisserie Valerie, AssetCo, etc, etc, have shown that ethics in accountancy has no chance when being ethical might interfere with charging the mega fees.
Google "Accountants fined or censured" to see the figures and you will realise that the €2.6 million black hole at Estoril is just petty cash compared to the fiddles goings on in the U.K.

0 #8 AL 2019-07-06 10:51

Quoting Rob:

Ethics is covered in a standard accounting degree and the national regulating bodies that issue accountants with registration/licences are meant to monitor adherence. At least that's how it works in first world countries, not sure about here?

Jeff Bezo's accountants must have missed the entire lesson on ethics and morality. Unless Jeff is employing 3rd world country accountants.

0 #7 Rob 2019-07-05 17:06

What is missing from the professional qualification of accountants is some acknowledgement of ethics and morality. An examination paper in Ethics in Accounting, perhaps?

Ethics is covered in a standard accounting degree and the national regulating bodies that issue accountants with registration/licences are meant to monitor adherence. At least that's how it works in first world countries, not sure about here?

+1 #6 AL 2019-07-05 09:59

Quoting Peter Booker:

What is missing from the professional qualification of accountants is some acknowledgement of ethics and morality. An examination paper in Ethics in Accounting, perhaps?

Peter, you will be asking the same of politicians next. They'll have you locked up in a cell next to Julian Assange

0 #5 Peter Booker 2019-07-04 10:11

Quoting AL:

Quoting Peter Booker:

The issue of unprofessional activities on the part of supposedly highly qualified accountants is not confined to any one country.

Creativity is part of an accountant's skills, in particular if you want to work for KPMG or other big accountancy firms.

What is missing from the professional qualification of accountants is some acknowledgement of ethics and morality. An examination paper in Ethics in Accounting, perhaps?

+2 #4 AL 2019-07-02 13:55

Quoting Peter Booker:

The issue of unprofessional activities on the part of supposedly highly qualified accountants is not confined to any one country.

Creativity is part of an accountant's skills, in particular if you want to work for KPMG or other big accountancy firms.

+2 #3 Peter Booker 2019-07-02 09:31

The UK has witnessed numerous cases where the Big Four accounting firms have managed to arrange their audits to the benefit of clearly unstable commercial enterprises (and to themselves, of course). And yet the ACA and other bodies of accountants represent themselves as guardians of fiscal morality.

The issue of unprofessional activities on the part of supposedly highly qualified accountants is not confined to any one country.

+2 #2 Darcy 2019-06-30 22:24

This should be easy to clear up, (one would think) .....
All the police have to do is, check the bank accounts, of allthe people involved.
If a large amount of money is found in an account, they need to provide proof of authenticity.
Simple ......

+1 #1 John Talbot 2019-06-30 20:34

Yet another story of how deeply corrupt the system here is. Any remotely competent forensic accountant will have spotted the gaps in accounts in days at most. Presumably then waiting years for the main heavyweights to be safely out of the firing line before raising their hand to get attention. Inexplicable when we have all seen how intensively Portuguese accountants and book keepers drill down into ratios and formulas when it suits them. Try taking some small 'profit' from your house sale in Portugal out of the country and you will be tracked for years to make sure each cent can be explained correctly or fined. An activity impossible done from the other direction as there are so many ways to obscure a Portuguese property purchase.

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