REGION – APPACDM Braga has no money to pay salaries and will close facilities (including in Vila Verde)

The Portuguese Association of Parents and Friends of Mentally Disabled Citizens (APPACDM) in Braga is out of money to pay March salaries, because its accounts were seized by Social Security, the institution’s president said this Thursday.

Speaking to Lusa, Bruno Silva said that, in addition to not processing salaries, APPACDM will also close, for an indefinite period, its six activity and training centers for inclusion (CACI), three of which are in Braga and the others in Vila Nova de Famalicão, Esposende and Vila Verde.

“We had a verbal agreement to come up with a plan to pay our Social Security debts, but we were surprised by the seizures, which left us with no money for anything,” he said.

According to Bruno Silva, who has led APPACDM in Braga since the end of last February, the issue is debts to Social Security that already amount to 531 thousand euros and which result from “successive failures” by the previous management.

“Yesterday [quarta-feira]we were going to process the salaries and we came across the garnishments, totaling 303 thousand euros, which prevented us from accessing the accounts”, he said.

The person in charge said that APPACDM in Braga has a total of 167 workers, bringing the monthly salary to 220 thousand euros.

The institution, which also has three residential homes, serves 262 users.

“For now, and at great cost, we are still keeping homes open, because these are users who are completely dependent on our services”, said Bruno Silva.

He admitted, however, that if the issue of accounts is not quickly unblocked, the institution may have to move towards closure, because suppliers, particularly in the food sector, threaten to “turn off the tap”.

For Tuesday, a meeting is scheduled at the Braga District Social Security Center to try to reach an agreement that will allow APPACDM to resume normal operations.

According to Bruno Silva, the previous management may have damaged the institution by “between two and three million euros”, through harmful management and illicit appropriation of public funds.

“It is a huge number of crimes”, he said, pointing out that the case is already being investigated by the Public Ministry.