Bench of Novo denounces MJ secretaries to the Ethics Commission

The Novo bench in the Chamber of Deputies – made up of deputies Adriana Ventura (Novo-SP), Gilson Marques (Novo-SC) and Marcel van Hattem (Novo-RS) – filed this Thursday (16) a complaint with the Commission of Public Ethics of the Presidency of the Republic (CEP) against secretaries Rafael Velasco (National Sec. of Penal Policies) and Elias Vaz (National Sec. of Legislative Affairs), both from the Ministry of Justice and Public Security.

The complaint is due to the lack of disclosure of the secretaries’ agendas in the official government system, after having received the woman known as the “Amazonian drug lady” and creating a crisis in the Ministry of Justice.

“Public administration cannot have secret agendas. To show that it is fulfilling the objective of acting for the common good and not for private interests, there needs to be transparency, clarity, even more so when we are talking about a very serious case like this, involving the top ministries of the Lula government. Those who should fight organized crime cannot welcome it with open doors”, stated the leader of Novo, Adriana Ventura.

According to Novo’s request, the secretaries’ conduct goes against Law 12,813, of 2013, and Decree No. 10,899, of 2021, which oblige public agents within the scope of the Federal Executive Branch to publish, daily or within a maximum period of seven calendar days , their agendas of public appointments and participation in hearings in the official system (e-Agendas) or on the public body’s website, complying with the constitutional principles of morality and publicity.

The Novo bench argues in its complaint to the CEP that “the use of e-Agendas is not a matter of discretion, but rather a determination of the Public Administration having a role in implementing the constitutional principles of morality and publicity. Therefore, it is not up to the public authority to fail to register its commitments or to do so out of time, much less to fail to do so without any justification”.

Therefore, parliamentarians ask that the infractions committed by the secretaries be investigated, prosecuted and judged, so that they can be punished.

In addition to the complaint, the Novo party also presented the Bill (PL 5,484/2023) to include the non-publication of the agenda and commitments between the types that qualify as an act of administrative improbity, as the current legislation only has a warning as punishment. . If the proposal is approved in Congress, the public agent who fails to comply with the rules for publishing the agenda will be subject to the disciplinary penalty of dismissal.

“What has been happening is negligent and absurd. The Executive Branch authorities are repeatedly failing to fulfill their duty to publicize agendas, violating the constitutional principles of publicity and morality,” said Marques.

For the Novo deputy, “the case of the drug lady highlights a clear reason for this hidden agenda.” “The question that remains is: how many other strange and dubious agendas were carried out without giving due publicity?”, he asked.