Lula government considers keeping command of Codevasf – 02/11/2023 – Power

The government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) is considering keeping engineer Marcelo Moreira in charge of Codevasf (Companhia de Desenvolvimento dos Vales do São Francisco and Parnaíba) and changing superintendents in the states.

Moreira was appointed by deputy Elmar Nascimento (União Brasil-BA) to preside over the company in 2019, at the beginning of the Jair Bolsonaro (PL) government. The state-owned company changed its vocation in the Bolsonaro administration and began to dispose of funds from parliamentary amendments in paving works and in the purchase of machinery, such as tractors.

The mayor, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), and senator Davi Alcolumbre (União Brasil-AP) defend the engineer’s permanence, according to parliamentarians and members of the government who follow the discussions.

During the Bolsonaro government, Codevasf also became the target of suspicions of corruption investigated by the Federal Police and of the performance of a cartel of companies, under analysis by the TCU (Tribunal de Contas da União).

Parliamentarians who were part of Bolsonaro’s base dominate the nominations of the state’s 12 superintendencies.

There are sponsors of former minister Ciro Nogueira (PP-PI), in addition to former senator Fernando Bezerra (MDB-PE), who was leader of the Bolsonaro government, in charge of the state arms of the public company. The state-owned company also shelters relatives of parliamentarians.

Sister of Nogueira, lawyer Juliana e Silva Nogueira Lima received a position in 2019 as an advisor to Moreira, with a salary of around R$ 19,000.

The superintendent in Penedo (AL), Joãozinho Pereira (PP), is Lira’s cousin, and made the federal agency a kind of parallel local government, as shown by the Sheet.

In August 2022, the PF said it found evidence of corruption within Codevasf, and removed Julimar Alves da Silva Filho from the position of manager of the state-owned company on suspicion of having received bribes of BRL 250,000 from Construservice. This contractor has as a hidden partner the businessman known as Eduardo DP, who was even arrested during investigations by the PF.

Eduardo DP was with the president of Codevasf in December 2020 representing Construservice.

On another front, the TCU is investigating whether Codevasf’s champion of paving funds, Engefort, is the main beneficiary of a cartel of companies that would defraud disputes at the state-owned company.

The two contractors and the company deny wrongdoing.

Now, at least half of the superintendencies must change command to shelter allies from the base of the Lula government — and remove Bolsonarists —, say members of the current government and the company.

During the government transition, Lula’s allies even used Codevasf as a bad example of clientelism with amendment resources. Members of the PT administration now claim that it is up to the Minister of Integration and Regional Development, Waldez Góes, to define the future of the state-owned company.

One of the guarantors of Moreira’s permanence at the state-owned company, Alcolumbre was also responsible for Góes going to the ministry. The senator also had influence in the arrival of Codevasf in Amapá and in his appointment to the command of the organ in the state.

The state-owned company has become one of the most coveted bodies by congressmen in the Bolsonaro government for its agility in executing paving and machinery donation contracts.

Boosted by amendments by deputies and senators, Codevasf’s budget went from R$ 1.2 billion to R$ 3.3 billion from 2019 to 2022, a figure higher than that of the Ministries of the Environment and Tourism in the last year.

The budget approved by Congress in 2022 and sanctioned by Lula in January still reserves around BRL 6.5 billion for nominations for deputies and senators of the Commission for Regional Development and Tourism. Part of this amount must be allocated to Codevasf.

Today, under the influence of ex-senator Fernando Bezerra (MDB), Petrolina’s superintendence is disputed by leaders of the Pernambuco PSB.

In Maranhão, the PC do B is one of the parties trying to appoint the new superintendent. PT governors in the Northeast work to change the command of Codevasf.

Leader of União Brasil in the Chamber, Elmar Nascimento was close to Marcelo Moreira’s father, the Bahian businessman José Moreira Pinto Netto, owner of Caaba Engenharia.

According to reports from people close to him, Elmar strengthened ties with Marcelo when he was participating in an Odebrecht project in Brasília. After the end of construction, the engineer moved to another state for new jobs at the contractor, but he traveled to the capital frequently to meet his wife.

Nascimento told interlocutors that keeping Moreira in the presidency of Codevasf would not be his nomination to the Lula government. The deputy has said that Lira and Alcolumbre approached the engineer in the last three years, for coordinating the distribution of the rapporteur’s amendments; and that his permanence in office was due to both of them.

For sources accompanying the discussions, the position of the leader of União Brasil is a way of maintaining the discourse that the party positions itself as independent from the PT government — even with the head of three ministries — and expanding the margin of negotiation for other positions in the second and third levels on the Esplanada.

Elmar had already placed his brother, Elmo Vieira, in charge of the Codevasf superintendence in Juazeiro (BA) in 2018. He left office in 2020 and won the dispute for mayor of Campo Formoso (BA).

A Sheet revealed that in the middle of the election campaign, Codevasf donated and installed cisterns in residences marked with Elmar Nascimento advertising stickers.

Lula’s allies also used the state-owned company to dispose of parliamentary funds, such as Minister Góes himself when he governed Amapá.

The Minister of Communications, Juscelino Filho (União Brasil-MA), directed resources to Vitorino Freire (MA), a city commanded by his sister, Mayor Luanna. The TCU sees deviations of R$ 700,000 in two paving contracts due to charges for gutters that were not erected.

In a note, Codevasf said that it has “a solid governance structure and actively collaborates with the inspection and control bodies and the Justice”.

“The company’s bidding procedures are carried out in strict compliance with the applicable legislation and are open to the free participation of companies from all over the country. The biddings provide savings to the public administration in the execution of regional development actions and projects”, he stated.

The state-owned company also stated that director nominations are approved by the board of directors and follow technical and experience requirements.