Ministers give relatives and members of the STF a ride on FAB – 07/22/2023 – Power

Since the beginning of the current Lula (PT) term, in at least 11 cases government ministers and the vice-president, Geraldo Alckmin (PSB), have taken their wives for a ride on FAB (Brazilian Air Force) flights.

Aircraft passenger lists obtained by Sheet through the Law on Access to Information, show that the Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad (PT), was accompanied on at least nine flights by his wife, the Secretary of Information and Digital Health of the Ministry of Health, Ana Estela Haddad.

All FAB aircraft requested by the minister, on those occasions, were for trips on the São Paulo-Brasília stretch.

Haddad usually spends his weekends in São Paulo, where he lived until he became finance minister. Whenever he uses FAB planes for the trip, the minister has agendas in the capital of São Paulo, a requirement of the decree that regulates the use of the aircraft.

Questioned, the press office of the Treasury said that “the USP professor Ana Estela Haddad occupies the position of Secretary of Information and Digital Health of the Ministry of Health at the invitation of Minister Nísia Trindade”. “In the situations in which she traveled, she was in the condition of a hitchhiker, regulated by Decree No. 10,267”, she adds.

The decree that regulates the use of FAB planes by authorities was updated by Jair Bolsonaro (PL) in March 2020.

The text determines that the plane can only be used for work reasons and that “it is up to the requesting authority to analyze the effective need to use Air Force Command aircraft to replace commercial flights”.

In addition, the decree establishes that “the entourage that accompanies the authority on the Air Force Command aircraft will have a strict connection with the agenda to be fulfilled, except in cases of medical or security emergency”.

The last article of the decree, however, opens a loophole for ministers to give rides to other people. He says that “the criteria for filling the remaining seats on the aircraft” are up to the authority that made the request.

Two of the flights were shared with the Minister of Labor, Luiz Marinho (PT), who also took his wife on the occasion, the Deputy Secretary for Coordination and Monitoring of the Civil House, Nilza Aparecida de Oliveira.

Questioned, the Ministry of Labor said that Marinho used FAB planes as provided for in the decree.

On one of these flights there was a third minister’s wife on board. On May 2, just after the holiday, a flight from Congonhas brought the vice president’s wife, Lu Alckmin.

Another relative of Alckmin was on board the aircraft, lawyer José Eduardo Rangel Alckmin, who is his cousin.

Questioned about the two situations, the vice-presidency’s press office replied that “the use is exceptional and stems from the need for the vice-president to travel” and that “the security attributed to him is extended to family members, as in the case of his wife”.

“The use of aircraft for displacement is done with parsimony and with unrestricted respect for legal and regulatory norms”, added the advisory.

The flight, which left São Paulo at 7 am on May 2, had 29 passengers in all. Another ride on the route was given to the minister of the STF (Federal Supreme Court) Alexandre de Moraes.

The decree that regulates the use of FAB aircraft determines that only the President of the STF can request Air Force planes for work trips or for safety reasons. In that case, Moraes was included in the entourage of one of the ministers on board. Questioned through the STF press office, he did not respond.

Moraes hitched a ride on another FAB plane, on a flight carried out on May 16 by the Ministers of Communications, Juscelino Filho, and of Ports and Airports, Márcio França, leaving São Paulo.

Ricardo Lewandowski also hitchhiked on a FAB plane this year, on a flight requested by the Minister of the Environment, Marina Silva, on May 10, a month after his retirement from the Supreme Court. The two were the only passengers on the flight.

Lewandowski did not respond to questions in the report. The Ministry of the Environment stated that “the seat on the flight was requested directly from the FAB by the office of the then Minister of the STF” and that “the Air Force indicated that there were seats available on the aircraft made available to the MMA”.

The commander of the Navy, Marcos Sampaio Olsen, took his wife on FAB flights on three occasions, on May 1st, May 4th and June 1st.

On the Labor Day holiday, Olsen and his wife, Rosaly Olsen, went to Brasilia from Rio de Janeiro. On the 4th, they left the federal capital towards São Paulo. On June 1, the departure was from São Paulo to Rio de Janeiro.

Questioned about the rides, the Navy replied that Olsen’s wife was included in the list of passengers on the flights “occupying the remaining space on the aircraft”, as provided for in the decree that regulates the subject.

“The Navy reiterates that all acts of the Navy Command are guided by the observance of the legislation and under the prism of transparency and military ethics”, concluded the note.