Complete rectification of the Port Authority of Valencia (APV) regarding the collection of allowances and compensation. The port body’s board agreed on Wednesday to amend the policy it approved last July, following elDiario.es’ revelations that adopting a formula more economically advantageous to President Ma Chao and the director-general could be illegal. The issue was also under the watchful eye of the National Ports Authority.
As reported by this newsroom, the Office of Conflicts of Interest (OCI) under the Ministry of Digital Transformation has launched an investigation to determine whether Mr. Chao collected per diems or remuneration derived from various business trips in excess of those stipulated under Law No. 3 of 2015 on Senior Officials and Matters Regarding Daily Allowances, Article 8 of Royal Decree 462/2002 of 2002. At APV, the president and general director are the only senior officials considered until Enrique Verda announced his resignation this Wednesday. The complaint suggests that the same system applied to the president for personnel excluded from the agreement, giving him an economic advantage.
As this writing progresses, APV’s Board of Directors, at its July 29 meeting, approved a new policy for the management and settlement of allowances and compensation. The policy stipulates that APV’s management and chairmanship “will be given the same consideration as personnel excluded from the agreement (managers and technicians),” but this issue has now been resolved as senior officials cannot deviate from what is set out in the aforementioned Royal Decree.
Coincidentally, the agreement, approved in July and now amended, comes a month after this newspaper revealed an anonymous email received by several city councilors, which warned, among other things, about President Ma Chao’s alleged irregular collection of around 15,000 euros per day. This email already warns of an OIC investigation into this matter.
However, in response to a question from elDiario.es after the board meeting, Chao tried to downplay the issue: “We are building procedures and internal structures through new procedure management tools. The policy was approved at the board meeting in July, but compared to other ports, We found that the wording was a little different in terms of rank officers, and the only thing we did was clarify the wording to make it more consistent with the Royal Decree, which has a higher legal rank than any port authority’s policy.”The same as what we see from other ports.” ”
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