Lula’s minister used secret budget to build access to his own farms

Appointed by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) to head the Ministry of Communications, federal deputy José Juscelino Filho (União Brasil) used resources from parliamentary amendments to pave a road that passes through his and family farms in the city of Vitorino Freire , in Maranhão. According to an investigation by the newspaper O Estado de São Paulo published this Monday (30), the 19-kilometer work consumed R$ 5 million in funds from the 2020 “secret budget”.

According to the newspaper, the road passes in front of farms belonging to the deputy and his wife and a property owned by his sister, Luanna Rezende (União Brasil), who is mayor of Vitorino Freire. The bid for the work would have been disputed only by the construction company Construservice which, according to the Federal Police, would have as a secret partner the businessman Eduardo José Barros Costa, known as Eduardo Imperador, arrested in July last year accused of paying bribes to civil servants to obtain works in Victorino Freire.

According to the newspaper, the amount of BRL 5 million was allocated to the work through an agreement signed with the Companhia de Desenvolvimento dos Vales do São Francisco e Parnaíba (Codevasf), in an opinion authorized by the engineer Julimar Alves da Silva Filho, appointed by the political group of Juscelino. He was removed from his duties on suspicion of receiving BRL 250,000 in bribes, but continues to receive a salary of BRL 20,000 per month according to Codevasf.

There is also an amendment of R$ 1.5 million used to pave another 11 streets in the city, raised on the eve of last year’s election. Investigation by the newspaper also points out that Juscelino Filho allocated R$ 16 million in parliamentary amendments to Vitorino Freire throughout his term.

Municipality is the deputy’s political base

In a note sent to the newspaper O Estado de São Paulo by the press office, Juscelino admitted to knowing Eduardo Imperador “for more than 20 years, even before becoming a parliamentarian”, but denied that the work only benefited his property. According to him, the farms have been in his family since the 1980s and are surrounded by “numerous villages”, with the road connecting the towns of Estirão and Jatobá.

“It is natural and predictable that, as a parliamentarian, Juscelino Filho is committed to bringing resources to the region, his political base”, says the minister’s advisory, noting that the family’s rural properties are “the result of investments made over the course of decades” and pass “from father to son”.

On the other hand, Codevasf said it was unaware of the information that the road passes through farms owned by the minister and his family, and that the selection of the company and indication of the sections to be paved is the responsibility of the city hall.

Mayor Luanna Rezende, Juscelino’s sister, was not found by the newspaper report. Vitorino Freire’s Secretary of Administration, Josué Lima de Alencar, dismissed the responsibility of the city hall and the parliamentarian, saying that “public bidding does not have a choice of mayor, there is no choice of deputy”, and that Construservice was chosen according to bidding requirements.

The defenses of Construservice and businessman Eduardo Barros Costa did not respond to requests for information made by the newspaper.