Arena de PE: TCE-PE frees Lula’s secretary from accusation – 02/18/2023 – Sport

The Second Chamber of the Court of Auditors of the State of Pernambuco unanimously accepted an appeal by former federal deputy Milton Coelho (PSB-PE) and modified the decision that had blamed the current secretary of Micro and Small Companies and Entrepreneurship of the Lula government (PT) for an alleged overbilling of BRL 81.3 million in the construction works of the Pernambuco Arena, in Greater Recife.

In addition to Milton Coelho, the former manager of the Operational Unit for the Coordination of Public-Private Partnerships Silvio Roberto Caldas Bompastor was also held responsible by the TCE-PE, according to a judgment published in December. His appeal is yet to be heard by the court.

In the session on the 9th, the rapporteur of the case, Councilor Dirceu Rodolfo, went back after the points listed in the initial vote and responded to requests from Milton Coelho’s defense.

“It has not been fully demonstrated, hence the obscurity in my vote, on this point I was quite unclear, to what extent his action caused the overbilling. When he takes over the secretariat, [antes] he was deputy mayor, he didn’t contribute to the business modeling, to the bidding, to the pricing and the contract, which was exactly what caused the overpricing, he didn’t contribute”, said Dirceu.

“He already catches the thing being carried out, and at a pressing moment, because soon after there was the Confederations Cup”, added the advisor, referring to the test event for the World Cup held in 2013 and which had Pernambuco as one of the venues. .

Initially, the TCE-PE blamed Milton Coelho “for having culpably contributed to the overbilling of BRL 81,306,446.60 (base date May 2009) in the Arena construction work”.

Councilor Dirceu Rodolfo also changed his understanding regarding the initial note that there would have been overbilling in the work. For him, what happened was an overprice.

“Overbilling is when there is damage to the treasury, a full damage quantified to overbilling. Overpricing is when there is, in the agreement, a higher price, but which has not yet reflected in damage to the treasury. I could never speak of overbilling, it was more a failure of the vote.”

Still according to the rapporteur, an audit is in progress at the TCE-PE and may come to a conclusion, later, whether or not there was overbilling.

Located in São Lourenço da Mata, the stadium was one of the 12 venues for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. Currently, it hosts sporadic games from the three main football clubs in Pernambuco. In 2016, the Government of Pernambuco broke the partnership with the construction company Odebrecht for the concession of the arena.

Milton Coelho is a public auditor at the State Court of Auditors. The former parliamentarian was unable to be re-elected in 2022. He currently occupies a secretariat at the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, headed by Vice President Geraldo Alckmin, from the same party.

Silvio Bompastor’s appeal should be judged in February by the TCE-PE. In December, after being sought by the Sheethe said he would not comment on the matter.

The report looked for Milton Coelho. The former deputy said he will speak only after the pending vote.