Government awaits TCU to change command in agencies – 07/10/2023 – Panel SA

The Planalto Palace awaits a decision by the TCU (Tribunal de Contas da União) to change the command of at least three regulatory agencies: Anatel (telecommunications), ANTT (land transport) and Aneel (electricity).

Currently under discussion is the term of office of the current president of Anatel, Carlos Baigorri. The process is reported by Minister Walton Alencar.

At the center of the discussion are the limits of the new law on agencies, approved in 2019, which separated the term of office of board members from the term of president of the agency.

Baigorri was already a member of Anatel’s board when he was appointed by Jair Bolsonaro, in 2022, to the body’s presidency.

Under the old law, he would be entitled to two more years and eight months as president of the agency, the remainder of his term as a director. With the new law, he won a five-year term.

At the time, TCU’s own technical area made a representation to the court of accounts in which it defended a position contrary to the five-year term.

The argument was that the new law only defined a term (five years) for the term of president. And that, in the case of board members who assume the post, the deadline would continue to be the remainder.

This would be a way to avoid what the law itself preaches: the independence of the president of Anatel —and of any other agency— in relation to the government, be it the ministry to which the body is linked or the Palácio do Planalto.

TCU minister Walton Alencar has not yet made up his mind and the other ministers are divided. Meanwhile, behind the scenes, the government is already beginning to envision ways to use the positions to bolster its support base in Congress.

One of the names in the running for Baigorri’s post is that of Maxwell Borges de Moura Vieira, former president of Eace, the entity created to manage the mandatory investments in the 5G auction. According to reports, he has Deputy Cezinha de Madureira as his political godfather.

With Diego Felix

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