Justice removes advisor appointed by Lula for Petrobras

The Federal Court suspended the mandate of advisor Sérgio Machado Rezende from the Petrobras Board of Directors. Rezende was appointed by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) for the position in 2023. The company reported this Monday (8) that it received the injunction signed by federal judge Paulo Cezar Neves Junior, from the 21st Federal Civil Court of São Paulo .

Before taking up a seat on the board, the Securities and Exchange Commission (CVM) had already indicated that Rezende was ineligible for the position. In the decision, the judge considered that Rezende’s appointment was not made through a triple list.

Furthermore, he mentioned that the counselor took up his role at the state-owned company on April 28, 2023, however he remained a member of the national directory of the Brazilian Socialist Party (PSB) until March 6 of last year. As a result, Rezende did not comply with the 36-month quarantine period provided for by the company’s statutes.

“I conclude that his nomination, approval and tenure in the position he holds is null and void,” said the magistrate. Sérgio Machado Rezende was Minister of Science and Technology in Lula’s first governments, between 2005 and 2011. On the 25th, the state-owned company will hold the Ordinary General Assembly (AGO), but the government did not nominate the former minister on the list of reappointments.

In November 2023, the Union approved changes to Petrobras’ statute that facilitate political appointments at the state-owned company. The new rules reduce restrictions on hiring company administrators. The judge highlighted that this change “did not validate indications, approvals and tenure of those who fit into the hypotheses of impediment, predictions that qualify due to their normative and cogent nature within the company itself”.

“For these reasons, it has been established, at least in this initial analysis, the illegality of the administrative act of appointing co-defendant Sérgio Machado Rezende as Board of Directors, by the Federal Union, in the capacity of controlling shareholder, as well as the approval of this nomination by the General Assembly”, said the magistrate.

In a statement, Petrobras stated that “it will seek to reform the aforementioned decision through the appropriate appeal, in order to defend the soundness of its internal governance procedures, as it has done in other ongoing actions in the same Court questioning nominations to the Board”.