Lula criticizes Vale for Brumadinho, and Gleisi defends Mantega – 01/25/2024 – Market

Amid the offensive to appoint former minister Guido Mantega in charge of Vale, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) criticized this Thursday (25) the mining company’s actions after the tragedy in Brumadinho (MG), which killed 270 people five years ago.

On another front, the president of the PT, Gleisi Hoffmann, also used social media to reinforce the pressure for the appointment of the former minister, according to her, “one of the most wronged Brazilians of our time”.

This Thursday, the private mining company begins debating the succession of its leadership, with a meeting of the internal committee that will evaluate the management of the current president, Eduardo Bartolomeo, and will recommend to the board whether to reappoint the executive or look for a new professional in the market.

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) wants to place Mantega in the position as a way to repay the services provided by the former minister, who commanded the Treasury from 2006 to 2015 — during the administrations of Lula and Dilma Rousseff (PT).

Lula has not yet spoken publicly about this desire. This Thursday, however, she questioned the company’s current management, on a social network.

“Today marks five years since the crime that left Brumadinho under the mud, taking lives and destroying the environment. Five years and Vale has done nothing to repair the destruction caused,” he wrote.

“It is necessary to provide support to the victims’ families, environmental recovery and, above all, supervision and prevention in mining projects, so that we do not have new tragedies like Brumadinho and Mariana”, he stated.

In his statement this Thursday, Gleisi reinforced Lula’s argument about injustices that had been committed against the former minister in accusations about his responsibility in the recession that began at the end of Dilma’s government.

She argues that, while he was at the Ministry of Finance, between 2006 and 2014, the country experienced a period of economic growth, controlled inflation and low unemployment.

“Very few Brazilians are as qualified as Guido Mantega to sit on the board of Vale, a strategic company for the country and in which the government has participation and responsibilities, even after its privatization that was damaging to public assets,” he stated.

“Guido Mantega was the target of lies and false accusations of laundering,” continued the PT president. “Now he has become the target of gross lies by the media who want to ostracize him, perpetuating injustice.”

The former minister’s participation on the Petrobras board during Dilma’s government was questioned by the company’s management, who had also been appointed by the former president.

In testimony to the MPF (Federal Public Ministry), the former president of the state-owned company Graça Foster stated that Mantega prevented fuel readjustments during the election period even in the face of the deterioration of the company’s accounts.

In August 2014, shortly before the first round, Graça acknowledged in a board meeting that the company was “at the limit”, that there had been sacrifices in containing readjustments since 2011, but said “that he did not have the power to do so”, since the final word belonged to the then minister.

Mantega’s appointment is seen as an attempt at government interference in a private company, which currently has no defined controller. It faces resistance among private investors and has been affecting the company’s shares on the stock exchange.

The final decision on the new president is made by the board of directors, currently made up of 13 members, most of them independent. Two are nominated by Previ and one by the workers. Bradesco and Mitsui have one representative each.