In an unprecedented decision, TCU will inspect Lula’s gifts – 12/18/2023 – Power

In an unprecedented decision, the TCU (Federal Audit Court) will inspect gifts received by President Lula (PT) in 2023. The practice is for the body to inspect gifts received by the president at the end of his term, not during.

Minister Augusto Nardes accepted the request presented by Bolsonaro deputy Bia Kicis (PL-DF). The information was revealed by the newspaper O Globo and confirmed by UOL before the court.

The Lula government can still appeal the decision.

Nardes contradicted the recommendation made by the TCU technical area to archive the matter. In his decision in favor of the commission’s request, the minister highlighted that, although the recommendation is for the court to evaluate, “at the end of the term”, the gifts received by the President of the Republic, “this does not prevent the immediate implementation of requests from Congress or its Technical Commissions due to the aforementioned routine work” of the court of inspecting the goods received by the head of State.

The minister also highlighted that the request presented by the commission “has a well-defined time frame” to “investigate the legality of the receipt, registration and destination of objects treated as gifts and giveaways by the Presidency, in the year 2023”.

For Nardes, waiting until the end of Lula’s current term to carry out the inspection would be contrary to the commission’s request and that, in 2027, when the inspection would be the practice, the deputies who currently make up the Commission, may not be re-elected.

The objective of the inspection is to determine whether the president incorporated gifts that belong to the Union and are impersonal into his personal collection.

Planalto can appeal the decision. The report contacted the government to ask for a position, but received no response. If the response is sent, this text will be updated.

Currently, the TCU is investigating alleged irregularities committed by Jair Bolsonaro (PL), who incorporated million-dollar jewels given to the Union at the end of his term into his personal collection. The former president’s defense denies any illegal act.

At the beginning of this month, the court’s technical area recommended that Bolsonaro return all gifts received during his term in office and that were not registered in the presidential collection.

The most notable case of state assets incorporated by Bolsonaro is a set of jewelry received from Saudi Arabia. It is part of the set of items, a necklace, ring, watch and a pair of diamond earrings, valued at R$5.1 million, that the former president’s government tried to bring illegally into the country and are in the custody of Caixa Econômica Federal.

The opinion recommends that Bolsonaro hand over to the Presidency “all items from his private documentary collection, as well as objects received as gifts due to his status as President of the Republic, which were not duly registered in the InfoAP System.”

The report says that Caixa must hand over the items in its custody to the former president, who must then pass them directly to the government. The pistol and rifle that Bolsonaro received as a gift from the United Arab Emirates must be delivered by the Federal Police directly to the Presidency.