Lula’s minister deactivates horse farm company after crisis – 04/06/2023 – Power

The Minister of Communications, Juscelino Filho (União Brasil), officially closed the company responsible for the stud farm that was at the center of suspicions of misuse of public money by the politician and which was used to auction horses.

The documentation closing the legal entity of the stud farm is dated March 13, a week after the minister met with President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) to explain the case.

Asked by Sheet Juscelino Filho, through the ministry’s advisory, did not answer about the reason for the closure and whether the stud farm will continue to operate under another legal format.

The advisory sent to the report only the statement that “the legal entity is no longer active and the minister is no longer a partner of this PJ since 2011”.

Although, that year, he transferred the company on paper to his sister and a partner, in practice Juscelino Filho never stopped presenting himself as the owner of the place, publicly admitting this condition at horse auctions.

Even after the company’s formal closure date, the stud farm’s Instagram account made further publications, earlier this week and last week.

On paper, the company was in the name of the minister’s sister, the mayor of the city of Vitorino Freire (MA), Luanna Rezende (União Brasil), and Gustavo Marques Gaspar. In official records, the firm was entitled Bringel e Rezende Ltda. and had as fantasy name Haras e Parque Luanna.

The company had been created in 2007, with the minister as a partner of the sister. In 2011, a change was made to the company so that Juscelino Filho would leave the firm, giving way to Gaspar.

The document that formalized the end of the company, technically called a dissolution, does not provide details about the dissolution of the firm, it only indicates that the partners decided, “since they were no longer interested in the continuity of the company, to dissolve and extinguish it”.

Despite not appearing in the legal entity’s records since 2011, at public events Juscelino Filho has always presented himself and was recognized as the owner of the stud farm.

On July 30 of last year, Haras e Parque Luanna held an auction of Quarter Horses in the capital of Maranhão, in partnership with Haras São Luís, which was announced as “1st Auction QM MA”.

On the occasion, the auction announcer invited Juscelino Filho to open the works. “I wanted to call the owner of the house up front, if I can put it that way. Juscelino Filho, come here, my dear”, said the announcer.

The minister, who at the time was campaigning for re-election as a federal deputy, then took the microphone and spoke about the activities at his stud farm.

“I already had the opportunity to hold an auction there in our park in Vitorino Freire, at Haras e Parque Luanna, which was attended by many friends who are here, and to carry out several tests in that enclosure as well”, said Juscelino Filho.

The auction was attended by several politicians, such as Senator Weverton Rocha (PDT-MA).

At the end, it was announced that the auction sold R$ 3.8 million.

Days before the stud farm’s CNPJ was written off, President Lula had decided to keep the minister in government.

Both met on March 6, at a time when Juscelino was pressured by news about alleged irregular use of per diems paid by the government.

As revealed by the newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo, the minister used an aircraft from the FAB (Brazilian Air Force) to go to São Paulo and return to Brasília.

On this trip, made from the 26th to the 30th of January, he had official agendas for the first two days. He even took advantage of his visit to São Paulo to participate in an event related to Quarter Horses.

The minister returned the daily values. He also argues that he made the trip to attend meetings with the telecommunications industry.

Juscelino is one of the three nominees from União Brasil for the first echelon of the federal government.

The delivery of the portfolios of Communications, Tourism, in addition to the Ministry of Integration and Regional Development, however, was not enough to fully attract the party to the PT base.

Gustavo Marques Gaspar, who was another partner at Haras e Parque Luanna, was Juscelino’s parliamentary advisor from February 2015 to August 2016, with a monthly salary of R$12,900.

As of 2019, Gaspar began to hold positions in the Senate. In February, he received BRL 18.2 thousand. The following month, he resigned from the role, after the newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo pointed out his link with the stud farm.

The decision on whether or not to keep the minister in the government divided Lula’s allies. The president of the PT, Gleisi Hoffmann (PR), even defended the temporary removal.

In a note, the benches of the Chamber and Senate of União Brasil repudiated Gleisi’s speeches. “Will President Gleisi make the same statement if a member of her party is the target of attacks?”, questioned the party in the text.

Before meeting Lula, in March, the minister recorded a video to refute accusations of misuse of public resources.

He said there was an “error in the per diem system”. This alleged failure included the daily rate for days without official agendas in the amount paid, according to Juscelino. In the video, the minister claims that he was the victim of “distorted attacks”.

“Do you know what I did? I returned the daily rates as soon as I found out, on January 19th. Here’s the proof for anyone who wants to see it. And to make it clear that this was a month before any article appeared in the press about it” , said the minister in the video.

The Public Ethics Committee of the Presidency decided, on the 28th, to open a process to investigate Juscelino’s conduct in the case of the alleged irregular use of per diems. He became Lula’s first minister to be investigated by the collegiate.

A Sheet he looked for Luanna Rezende through the emails of the City Hall of Vitorino Freire but did not get a response.