Communications Minister’s father-in-law dispatches to cabinet without being named

Businessman Fernando Fialho, father-in-law of the Minister of Communications, Juscelino Filho, works at the ministerial office without being hired and unrelated to the area of ​​the portfolio, according to a report in the newspaper The state of Sao Paulo published this Monday (5). Fialho was director of the National Waterway Transport Agency (Antaq) from 2006 to 2012 and Secretary of State of Maranhão between 2012 and 2014, where he is accused of embezzling public money.

According to Estadão, data obtained by the Access to Information Law (LAI) show that Fialho receives guests at the ministry even without Juscelino’s presence, such as businessmen and people who have not identified their functions. Some of them claim to be linked to the area of ​​communication, which the portfolio manages a budget of R$ 2.2 billion to regulate the telecommunications sector, promote digital inclusion and manage the broadcasting system in the country.

Fialho, however, does not work directly in the area of ​​communication. According to Federal Revenue data, the businessman controls five companies in the fields of ports, construction, mining, animal husbandry and consulting. Internal ministry documents point to the businessman only as someone who receives guests from the folder, without a defined role.

One of the visits registered by the ministry’s ordinance took place on March 17, when Juscelino was in Maranhão participating in an event at the Post Office headquarters, while Fialho received guests in Brasília. Another businessman said he was at the ministry to talk about “expansion of connectivity”, but without the presence of the minister.

In total, at least four people came to Fialho to deal with the portfolio’s matters between February and March of this year.

In addition to serving in the ministry without an official position, Fialho is the defendant in a criminal case for alleged embezzlement of public funds through an agreement worth R$ 4.9 million with an institute for “improvement of the access path” in the interior of Maranhão. , when he served as Secretary of Social Development and Agriculture. The complaint was filed in October 2019 and received by the Justice of Maranhão in February 2021, and is still pending.

Businessman says he is just an “informal adviser” to the minister

Sought by the report, Fialho declared that it is “fallacious” and “frivolous” to say that he works in the portfolio or performs any function, and that he contributes “merely” as an “informal adviser”. The businessman claims that he was in the ministry “a few times”, mainly at the beginning of the year.

“I am not and could not be appointed to any position in the Ministry of Communications, since I am a relative of the minister and, out of respect for public administration, the possibility of occupying a public function in the MCom was never considered by the minister, nor by me”, he said, also emphasizing that he is innocent in the process to which he responds in Maranhao.

On the other hand, the Ministry of Communications confirmed that Juscelino’s father-in-law dispatches in the folder and justified that he contributed “with his experience”. “This is a very common practice in periods of formation and formulation of a new government”, completed the portfolio.

Expert consulted says, however, that the work of “support” and reception of guests in the ministry is “irregular” without the formal appointment of the server, according to Antônio Cecílio Moreira Pires, professor of administrative law at the Faculty of Law of Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie.

Juscelino has been the target of investigations for alleged irregularities

The new case of alleged irregularity involving the minister is not the first since the beginning of the new government. At the beginning of the year, an investigation by Estadão showed that Juscelino would have used the official structure of the ministry to participate in private events in the interior of São Paulo after ministerial agendas in the city.

He would also have used the position of federal deputy in recent years to placate people from his circle in the Legislative, such as the partner of his stud farm in Maranhão in a position of trust in the Senate, with a salary of R$ 17,000.

Still under the influence of the position in the past, Juscelino would have employed the manager of the stud farm and his private plane pilot in the Chamber of Deputies, with salaries of R$ 7.8 thousand and R$ 10.2 thousand, respectively, between the years of 2016 and 2018.

He also pointed out that the minister would have, while he was a federal deputy, forwarded parliamentary amendments to pave a 19-kilometer road that gives access to his properties in the state, at a cost of R$ 5 million.

The opposition even considered an impeachment of the minister and opened a crisis in the government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) with União Brasil, which forms part of the support base. The president, however, decided to keep Juscelino in office.