Former Minister of Health Eduardo Pazuello.| Photo: Isac Nobrega/PR.

The Army Command released this Friday (24) the administrative process opened against former Minister of Health Eduardo Pazuello (PL-RJ). The document had been kept secret for 100 years. Pazuello, who was elected federal deputy, participated in an act alongside former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL), in 2021.

At the time, the former minister was an active duty general. The Army’s code of conduct prohibits the participation of active-duty military personnel in political events. On the last 17th, the Comptroller General of the Union (CGU) gave the Army a period of 10 days to withdraw the secrecy. The 17-page document shows the defense of the former minister and the response of the then Army commander, Paulo Sergio Nogueira, absolving Pazuello, reported Estadão.

The official stated that he warned Nogueira on the eve of his participation in the act with Bolsonaro in attendance. Pazuello also said that he only spoke at the event because he was surprised by the former president, who handed him the microphone.

“I remind you that I informed him by telephone on Saturday that I would go on the tour on Sunday, at the invitation of the president. The ties of respect and camaraderie between me and the President of the Republic, in my view, justify the invitation to the tour”, he said. Pazuello in his defense.

In the document, the then Army commander confirms that he had been warned by the former minister of the event. Nogueira filed the lawsuit and considered that Pazuello’s participation in the event had no “party-political bias”.