After espionage allegations, government intends to reformulate Abin

The Minister of the Civil House, Rui Costa, informed this Tuesday (14) that the Brazilian Intelligence Agency (Abin) must undergo a reformulation of the entire board. The announcement followed reports of a secret system to monitor up to 10,000 cell phone owners every twelve months. The information was revealed by the newspaper The globe and confirmed by the agency.

“If something was done in the past, in the other government, that is not in compliance with the law, it will be taken to whoever [seja] responsible; to CGU [Controladoria-Geral da União]to the organs of justice, so that the appropriate measures, due accountability, be made to those who practiced these acts in the past”, said the minister.

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) nominated Federal Police delegate Luiz Fernando Corrêa for the position of general director of Abin. The nomination still needs to be approved by the Senate. “As soon as we have Abin’s new management, we will reformulate it. And I can say that under the new management, every law will be respected in Abin’s work”, assured Costa.

During the period in which the irregularities would have occurred, between 2019 and 2021, Abin was linked to the GSI, Institutional Security Office, commanded by the then minister, General Augusto Heleno. Earlier this month, the agency became linked to the Civil House.

After the case came to light, Abin released a note, this Tuesday afternoon, confirming that the monitoring program was contracted between December 2018 and May 2021. It also stated that the agency is in the process of improvement, according to with the public interest and the democratic rule of law.

With the repercussion of the denunciations, sub-prosecutor Lucas Rocha Furtado, from the Public Prosecutor’s Office at the Federal Court of Auditors, filed a representation in which he asks for the investigation of irregularities at Abin.