Flávio Bolsonaro sues Jorge Viana as president of Apex

Senator Flávio Bolsonaro (PL-RJ) filed a popular action in court to remove PT candidate Jorge Viana from the position of president of the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex-Brasil). The action refers to the change in the Apex Bylaws, so that Viana would remain in office, even without speaking English, one of the necessary requirements to chair the agency.

The petista was nominated by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in January this year to receive a salary of R$ 65 thousand. Apex is linked to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and is responsible for promoting Brazil abroad.

A report by Estadão pointed out that the Apex deliberative council changed the bylaws on March 22, and instead of being mandatory, fluency in the English language became “preferred”. Jorge Viana stayed three months in office, even without speaking fluent English. The case came to light because in January 2019, Apex’s appointed president, Alecxandro Pinho Carreiro, left the agency’s presidency after eight days, after the press revealed that he did not speak English.

In the document filed in court, Flávio Bolsonaro states that the change made by the current president of the agency is “illegal” and “abusive” to aim “exclusively at his own benefit. “It appears in total disarray to the precepts of administrative morality and impersonality”, says an excerpt from the action.

The senator also argues that Viana’s hiring was inappropriate and illegal given the fact that he did not meet the minimum requirements for the position. He asks in the action that the change in the statute made by Viana be revoked, so that the norm returns to its previous wording, which requires “fluency or advanced level in the English language”.