Passports fund fails to publish its audited accounts

An entity entrusted with administering hundreds of millions of euros generated from passport sales has failed to publish its annual audited accounts for 2021.
The National Development and Social Fund was set up in 2015 with the aim of using a percentage of the funds generated from selling passports to rich foreigners for public interest projects and initiatives.

Its regulations bind it to publish audited accounts annually and to also report on its activities to the finance minister.
The audit accounts are also meant to be tabled in parliament.
A spokesperson for the fund said the annual report and its financial statements are in the final stages of completion and will be published early next year.
The spokesperson said the “slight delay” in publishing the accounts was due to a change in the fund’s auditor, adding that the fund’s internal policy dictates that it changes auditor every five years.
€598.10 million in assets in 2020
According to the last available financial statements, dating back to 2020, the National Development and Social Fund received €27.8 million in revenue from the passports programme, taking the total amount of proceeds since its inception to just under €600...