In an audit report on control over state sector companies exercised by the ministry in the three-year period, released on Tuesday, the commission takes the view that there was a “lack of control by the state” over CGD in the period, after the injection into it of €1.65 billion in state funds in 2012.

In the report, the commission lists situations in which it says that the ministry - which for most of the period was run by Maria Luís Albuquerque of the right-of-centre government that preceded the current, Socialist, administration - should have exercised more control over the bank.

“The control of CGD lacks transparency, particularly evidenced by the failure to send the shareholder [the state] the documents required by the legal regime for public sector companies," the report states, concluding that “the approval of the CGD accounts was done with flawed information."

In particular there was a “lack of knowledge” on the part of experts charged with monitoring public sector companies and of treasury officials of certain instruments to manage provisions that were being used by CGD. The result, the report notes, is that this information did not form part of the assessment of the report and accounts, “which meant that the shareholder approved these without complete information."

In its report, the audit commission concludes that the ministry's control of public sector companies is not yet effective and has been focussed on only around half of such companies. Given that CGD is the largest public company, the commission looked into it in a "more detailed" fashion.

The Ministry of Finance responded to the commission's findings by stating that it is “firmly committed” to increasing control over public sector companies. It noted that a new "industrial plan" has been approved for CGD that is to be implemented between now and 2019, under a newly appointed board, and which includes “an economic analysis, a viable business plan, including disinvestments in non-strategic operations" and a range of other measures.

CGD, meanwhile, batted away criticism of any “insufficient control” on the part of its sole shareholder, noting that as a credit institution it is also subject to the banking regulator. The audit commission, however, states in its report that this is not enough to ensure "the maximisation of financial results nor an optimisation of the company's activity leading to a determined economic or social impact."