Entities say that Lewandowski’s decision on the State-owned Law is “retrogression”

Entities that work for public transparency criticized the decision of Minister Ricardo Lewandowski, of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), who suspended the device that prohibited the appointment of government ministers, state or municipal secretaries to the Board of Directors and board of directors of state-owned companies. The minister extinguished the need for a three-year quarantine for these nominations, provided for in the State-Owned Companies Law of 2016. The monocratic decision must still be analyzed by the plenary of the Court.

In a note, the organizations state that “they see with great concern the various efforts to impose setbacks to Law 13.303/2016 (State-Owned Companies Law), subjecting public companies and mixed-capital companies to serious risks of corruption, conflicts of interest and legal uncertainty in the administration of its resources”.

“The restriction of political appointments to positions in the administration of state-owned companies emerged as an important response to the vulnerability of these companies to the influences of illegitimate interests that resulted in serious acts against the Public Administration in the recent past”, they argue.

The organizations argue that the State-owned Law promoted good governance practices and represented “an advance in the professionalization of public management with the adoption of compliance, transparency and ethics mechanisms”. The entities ask the Executive, Legislative and Judiciary powers “to put a brake on attempts to change the Law of State-Owned Companies and direct their efforts to improving the governance system and promoting integrity in state-owned companies”.

The following entities signed the note: Transparency International – Brazil, Brazilian Institute of Corporate Governance (IBGC), International Chamber of Commerce – ICC Brazil, Ethos Institute, Association of Capital Market Investors (AMEC), Brazilian Institute of Business Law and Ethics (IBDEE), Association of Capital Market Investment Analysts and Professionals (APIMEC Brasil), Instituto Não Accept Corrupção (INAC), Competitive Brazil Movement, Transparência Brasil, Brazilian Institute of Finance Executives of São Paulo (IBEF-SP), Brazilian Institute of Finance Executives of Rio Grande do Sul (IBEF-RS).