Haddad denies pressure from Centrão and says bets stay with the Treasury

Minister Fernando Haddad, of Finance, stated on Monday night (19) that the dismissal of the special advisor to the department’s executive secretariat, José Francisco Manssur, occurred at the request of the civil servant himself. Haddad denied that the departure was due to pressure from Centrão.

When asked about the matter by journalists, upon leaving the ministry in Brasília, the minister reinforced that Manssur was a high-quality professional, whose main task, delivering the federal government’s proposal for the regulation of sports betting, had already been completed. since the previous year.

“Manssur was here to format the project
[de lei] and it was a process very well handled by him. He is a top quality professional. But anyway [a exoneração] It’s on request. He will face other challenges. It has nothing to do with it [pressões do Centrão]”, said the minister.

According to Haddad, the management of revenue from the taxation of sports betting will be the responsibility of the Treasury, and it will be up to the department’s Secretary of Economic Reforms, Marcos Pinto, to appoint the new person responsible for supervising this topic at the Ministry. On the other hand, the Ministry of Sports will have the role of guaranteeing the integrity of bets and preventing manipulation.

There was a behind-the-scenes dispute over which ministry would be responsible for collecting taxes on sports betting, which could reach R$2 billion this year.

Furthermore, the minister expressed the federal government’s interest in urgently resuming the processing of bills that make up the microeconomic agenda, such as those related to insurance, capital markets and credit. Haddad highlighted that it is essential that the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate reconsider this issue, aiming to boost the country’s economy.

This, in fact, will be the topic of a meeting this Tuesday morning (20) with President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT); vice-president Geraldo Alckmin (PSB); ministers Rui Costa (Civil House), Márcio Macêdo (General Secretariat), Alexandre Padilha (Institutional Relations) and Paulo Pimenta (Communication Secretariat).

They will also be joined by government leaders in Congress (senator Randolfe Rodrigues, no party-AP), in the Senate (Jaques Wagner, PT-BA) and in the Chamber (José Guimarães, PT-CE) with the head of the personal cabinet of the president, Marco Aurélio Marcola.