Lisbon, Nov. 12, 2025 (Lisboa) - Portugal's diversified energy producer, EDP, insists that it complied with tax rules in the sale of the north region Douro dams in 2020 and promises to "defend its interests" after learning that the public prosecutor's office is claiming €335.2 million in unpaid taxes.
In an official statement released on Wednesday in response to the outcome of the investigation by the Central Department of Investigation and Penal Action (DCIAP) announced last week, the Portuguese electricity company states that "the decision of the public prosecutor's office to close the criminal case comes as no surprise" because, in its view, the group "acted in accordance with the law and market standards in this type of operation".
The investigation into the sale of six power stations by the Portuguese electricity company to the French consortium led by Engie came to an end at the end of October, with the closure of the case being announced on 5 November.
The DCIAP team of prosecutors dismissed the suspicions of tax fraud, concluding that there was no discrepancy or simulation between the purpose declared by EDP and the intended purpose of the sale, through a spin-off followed by a business merger with an Engie entity.
However, it considered that, regardless of the absence of criminal contours, the sale implies the payment to the State of taxes that were not paid at the time.
An official source at EDP assures that the company "will not fail to defend its interests and its understanding of the correct application of tax law".
In total, the Public Prosecutor's Office is claiming €335.2 million for the State and has ordered the Tax and Customs Authority (AT) to initiate "administrative proceedings with a view to settling and collecting the outstanding taxes".
The public prosecutor's office, which was assisted by the AT in the investigation, estimates that the State is owed €120.9 million in Stamp Duty, €99.6 million in IMT (Municipal Tax on Onerous Transfers of Real Estate) and €114.7 million in IRC (Corporate Income Tax).
For EDP, the public prosecutor's office, in closing the case, concludes that there is no "evidence of tax fraud" or "tax abuse".
In today's statement, the electricity company controlled by China Three Gorges reaffirms that "the transaction was carried out in the only way that would ensure the continuity of operations and the maintenance of all the commitments necessary for the normal functioning of the portfolio in question (i.e., spin-off and subsequent sale of a company)".
"EDP scrupulously complies with all its obligations, including tax obligations, and carried out this transaction under the tax framework in force at the date of the transaction," it continues.
The EDP group sold the dams through an asset spin-off operation, followed by a merger. The deal was agreed at the end of 2019 and completed a year later, between December 2020 and January 2021.
To complete the sale, EDP created a company called Camirengia in 2020, to which it transferred the operation of the dams. In turn, the buyer created the company Águas Profundas in 2019, which later changed its name to Movhera I - Hidroeléctricas do Norte. In January 2021, Camirengia merged with Movhera, formalising the sale through this incorporation.
Since the Tax and Customs Authority received an order from the public prosecutor's office to collect the taxes, EDP says it "will remain available, as always, to cooperate with the authorities, namely the Tax Authority" to "provide any clarifications deemed necessary." However, it assures that it "will not fail to defend its interests and its understanding of the correct application of tax law."
Following the news about the order, the minister of finance, Joaquim Miranda Sarmento, considered it "untimely" to count on the collection of these taxes "in the coming years" because "any taxpayer has the right to litigate".
PCT/AYLS // AYLS
Lusa
