Government approves benefits for suspected leader of cartel – 06/05/2023 – Power

This year, the Lula government (PT) signed contractual amendments that favor the contractor Engefort, the target of accusations of irregularities detected by the CGU (Controladoria Geral da União) and indicated in an audit by the TCU (Tribunal de Contas da União) as the leader of a cartel which would have defrauded paving bids totaling more than BRL 1 billion from 2018 to 2021.

These amendments, through the federal state-owned Codevasf (Companhia de Desenvolvimento dos Vales do São Francisco e do Parnaíba), deal mainly with the extension or “restart” of 12 contracts whose original values ​​add up to around R$ 180 million for works in the states of Amapá , Bahia, Ceará, Paraíba, Sergipe and Tocantins.

Two of these Amapá contracts have already been attacked by inspections by the TCU and the CGU. The auditors found deviations, overbilling and lack of design in the works, among other irregularities.

Despite this, now under Lula, one of these contracts had its value increased and its term extended to 2023. Other contracts were extended despite not having left square one.

In addition to the irregularities in the amended contracts, the TCU and the CGU have already pointed out serious irregularities in several other Engefort works, leading Codevasf itself to open internal procedures. The state-owned company has already stated that its findings may lead to requests for reimbursement from Engefort. In Maranhão, for example, the accusations are of deviations with “ghost gutters” in the works.

Codevasf was delivered by then-president Jair Bolsonaro (PL) to the centrão and is maintained that way by Lula in exchange for support in Congress, in the so-called give-and-take.

President of the state-owned company since 2019, appointed by the leader of União Brasil in the Chamber, Elmar Nascimento (BA), engineer Marcelo Moreira was kept in office by the Lula administration. The new government promotes changes in directorates and state superintendencies to gain support in the National Congress.

Engefort, a construction company from Maranhão based in Imperatriz (630 km from São Luís), came to dominate Codevasf’s paving bids during the Bolsonaro administration, often participating alone or in the company of a shell company, as revealed by the Sheet.

Most of the state-owned company’s contracts with the contractor were fueled by parliamentary amendments.

Three of the works that received additives in 2023, budgeted at R$ 90 million, were indicated by Senator Davi Alcolumbre (União Brasil-AP).

In one of the cases that involved amendments by the rapporteur authored by Alcolumbre, technicians from the TCU even pointed out a direction by the congressman in favor of Engefort.

In a letter he sent to the state-owned company in which he chose the cities to be benefited and the type of pavement they would receive, Alcolumbre even attached a spreadsheet with the builder’s stamp.

The rapporteur of the case, Minister Jorge Oliveira, did not see Alcolumbre favoring Engefort. The minister accepted the argument that the construction company had won all the tenders for different types of paving in Amapá, and so, in any case, it would take the contracts in the state.

The construction company has also held a meeting at Codevasf with Alcolumbre, which was not recorded in the minutes.

On September 22, 2021, the senator and Fernando Teles Antunes Neto, Engefort’s commercial manager, met with the president of Codevasf, Marcelo Moreira.

In a report released this year, the CGU stated that there was still no definition on which streets would be paved in two of these works sponsored by Alcolumbre, about two years after the signing of the contracts.

In addition to delays, the controller points out overpricing (R$ 1.4 million), overbilling (R$ 592.5 thousand) and other losses in the amount of R$ 1.9 million, such as flaws in the dimensioning of paving. That is, irregularities of about R$ 3.9 million.

One of the contracts for Amapá was signed in 2021 and received three amendments in the Lula government, in January, February and April.

At the end of the Bolsonaro government, the contract had a value of approximately BRL 28.8 million, but, with the amendments signed in January and April, the amount rose to approximately BRL 29.2 million.

The February addendum extended the term of the contract by ten months.

One of the additives in Paraíba even pointed to the “restart of the contract”. The April amendments extended the deadlines for another year.

Inspection carried out in September 2022 by the CGU still found flaws in the asphalt paid for with the Alcolumbre amendments. Photos from the audit in Macapá (AP) show that part of the floor moved to the end of the runway, forming cracks near the shoulder.

Of the 12 contracts that received amendments, at least four have 0% execution, according to information from Codevasf.

The most advanced work in the group that received the amendment in 2023 is 87% complete and cost BRL 2.5 million, while the second most advanced contract has 33% completion.

The Codevasf website does not show data on two works. One of them, in Ceará, also became a target of the CGU. The agency claims that the budget for this contract of R$ 18.45 million includes services of R$ 7.2 million that will not be carried out, such as the removal of trees.

after the Sheet to show what Codevasf brought into Lula’s administration companies and practices investigated by control bodies, Secom (Secretary of Social Communication) published a note on the website “Brasil contra fake” stating that the government is not “involved” with the ” asphalt cartel”.

Questioned last week about Codevasf having extended contracts with Engefort even after reservations from control bodies, Secom did not manifest itself.

State says that additives seek to continue works and take advantage of resources

wanted by Sheet, Codevasf stated that “the additives mentioned refer to term extensions”. “The extension of deadlines ensures the continuity of service provision and the effective use of budgetary resources already committed”, he said.

The state-owned company denied that there was an increase in the value of one of the Amapá contracts through an amendment.

According to the state-owned company, the amendment “refers to the formalization of payment of the indemnity amount related to economic-financial rebalancing”. “The rebalancing aims to maintain the effective conditions of the proposal approved in public bidding and reestablish the relationship that the parties initially agreed to.”

Regarding the inspection of the CGU, the state-owned company maintained that “it has adopted measures to adjust processes with a view to meeting the notes of audit reports, including in relation to values”.

In a note, Engefort stated that it “vehemently repudiates any allegations of cartel formation, collusion and fraud existing in the bidding processes in which it participated” and “does not condone any illegality”.

The company reported that “all necessary responses will be presented to the responsible bodies”.

Senator Davi Alcolumbre stated that he “follows and hopes that the control bodies, in the role of auxiliaries of the National Congress, such as the TCU, exercise their mission in the processes instituted to supervise the accusations of irregularities, considering that Codevasf is the company responsible for the entire process of budgetary execution and implementation of works carried out with funds from parliamentary amendments intended for the purpose of serving the public interest”.