Codevasf counselor is hired in Lira’s office – 03/21/2023 – Power

Advisor to the mayor, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), lawyer Mariangela Fialek is also a member of the Fiscal Council of Codevasf (Company for the Development of the São Francisco and Parnaíba Valleys).

She became an advisor to the body in 2019, during the Jair Bolsonaro (PL) administration, representing the Ministry of Regional Development.

Codevasf was handed over by Bolsonaro to the centrão and maintained that way by the Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) government in exchange for support in Congress. The state-owned company has become one of the most coveted bodies by parliamentarians for its ability to dispose of amendment funds in paving works and in the purchase of machinery, such as tractors.

In 2021, Fialek started working at the Chamber alongside Lira. The information about her participation in the council was revealed by the Metrópoles portal and confirmed by Sheet.

The lawyer receives BRL 21,000 in gross salary for her position as President of the Chamber, plus BRL 3,580 per month to join the company’s board.

The council’s function is to “follow and verify” the action of the Codevasf leadership, according to the state-owned company.

The group has two representatives from the former Ministry of Regional Development, a portfolio that was dismembered during the Lula government, and one from the National Treasury, in addition to the same number of alternates for each body.

Regional Development was divided by the PT between the Ministries of Integration and Cities.

All board members were elected under Bolsonaro.

This collegiate makes statements on various matters of the company, such as budget execution, internal audits and on recommendations from control bodies, such as the CGU (Controladoria-Geral da União) and the TCU (Tribunal de Contas da União).

In a meeting held in January, the council expressed “concern” about the low settlement of funds pledged in 2022 and demanded information from the state-owned company on the subject.

Fialek still participates since February 2022 in the Fiscal Council of Caixa Econômica Federal.

Before working with Lira, the lawyer was an institutional relations advisor for the Ministry of Regional Development, under the management of Rogério Marinho —now a senator for the PL-RN.

This office dealt, among other matters, with parliamentary amendments.

Contacted through his advisory, Lira did not manifest himself until the publication of this text. A Sheet also asked Fialek for a statement through the advisory of the president of the Chamber, but there was no response.

The lawyer also worked in the São Paulo government office during the management of João Doria (then in the PSDB). She was also Deputy Head of Parliamentary Affairs in the Michel Temer (MDB) government and worked in ministries during Lula’s first administrations.

During the Bolsonaro government, Lira even placed a cousin in a high position at Codevasf in Alagoas: Joãozinho Pereira (PP), local superintendent, remains in the role.

Pereira turned the federal agency into a kind of parallel local government, as shown by Sheet.

Even with inspections by the TCU and CGU that point to serial irregularities, such as overbilling, deviations and precarious works, the Lula government decided to maintain command of the company. The idea is that engineer Marcelo Moreira, appointed in 2019 with the endorsement of União Brasil, will remain in the presidency of the state-owned company and that some names in superintendencies and boards will be changed.

At the beginning of 2023, already under the Lula government, Codevasf signed contracts worth around BRL 650 million inherited from Bolsonaro, which lead to the current management a series of contractors and conduct suspected of cartel practice in paving works.

Most bids had the participation of at least one contractor identified by the TCU as suspected of being part of the “asphalt cartel”.

Moreira was nominated by the leader of União Brasil in the Chamber, Elmar Nascimento (BA). Today Lira and Senator Davi Alcolumbre (União Brasil-AP) defend the engineer’s permanence.

The Lula government’s transition team even used Codevasf as a bad example of using resources from parliamentary amendments. Part of the group evaluated that the state-owned company should focus on the development of poorer regions instead of channeling the funds directed by congressmen into paving and machinery.

In early March, Codevasf said that its bids follow the law and do not set minimum limits for the number of participants or for discounts in relation to reference values.

Under Bolsonaro, Codevasf still became the center of suspected corruption.

In August 2022, the Federal Police pointed out suspicion of bribery after discovering that Julimar Alves da Silva Filho, former manager of the state-owned company, had received BRL 250,000 from Construservice. This contractor has as a hidden partner the businessman known as Eduardo DP, who was arrested during the investigations.

The state-owned company has said in demonstrations to the press that it has “a solid governance structure and actively collaborates with the work of inspection and control bodies and the Justice Department”.

“The company’s bidding procedures are carried out in strict compliance with the applicable legislation and are open to the free participation of companies from all over the country. The biddings provide savings to the public administration in the execution of regional development actions and projects”, stated Codevasf in February the report.

Sought, the Ministry of Integration and Regional Development, which houses Codevasf in its structure, also did not manifest itself.