Lula’s friend’s network is targeted for alleged fraud at Prouni – 06/30/2023 – Panel SA

The Secretariat for Higher Education of the Ministry of Education has filed a lawsuit to investigate Anhanguera University (Uniderp) for alleged fraud in granting scholarships through Prouni, the federal government program that offers scholarships at private colleges to low-income students.

Anhanguera is controlled by the Cogna group, which belongs to Walfrido Mares Guia, a friend of President Lula. The businessman and former deputy today chairs the group’s board of directors and coordinates the group’s Financial Committee. With shares on B3, the company is worth BRL 6 billion.

The opening of the process was published in the Federal Official Gazette. The documents, however, are not yet public.

MEC technicians claim that preliminary investigations had already been conducted since 2021. Among the signs of irregularities, Anhanguera would have artificially inflated the price of tuition to receive more from the government for partial grants via tax exemption.

If confirmed by the ongoing investigations, the situation is a crime and, therefore, will have to be forwarded to the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office, according to the technicians heard anonymously by the column.

At the administrative level, punishment for a case of this nature ranges from offering more full scholarships to suspending the program for three consecutive selection processes. At the limit, the school can be excluded from Prouni.

Through its advisory, Anhanguera stated that it complies with the legislation and said that it has been in contact with the ministry since the date of publication of the ordinance [que abriu a investigação] to clarify the facts for filing the case.

With Diego Felix

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