Multilaser, linked to secretary, closes 3 contracts in SP – 08/11/2023 – Educação

The Tarcísio de Freitas government (Republicans) closed three contracts this year with Multilaser, a company linked to the Secretary of Education of São Paulo, Renato Feder. The bids add up to more than R$ 243 thousand.

The new hires were made when Feder already held the position of secretary and even after he had said that the company would no longer participate in bids with the government of São Paulo. In January and March, he told the Sheet that the company had compliance rules that would prevent new contracts.

Feder was CEO of Multilaser for 15 years and is still a shareholder in the company through an offshore company headquartered in Delaware (in the United States). In a note, the company states that there is no conflict of interest because the secretary is not part of Multilaser’s management. The Tarcísio government responded that the contracts are not from the portfolio commanded by Feder.

Information about Multilaser’s new contracts was revealed by the newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo. Among those signed this year, the biggest is with Iamspe (Institute of Medical Assistance of State Public Servants), of R$ 226 thousand for the delivery of “tape with reagent area for checking capillary glycemia, with any enzymatic chemistry and method of reading on portable monitor”.

Another contract was signed with the Regional Hospital of Ferraz de Vasconcelos, linked to the Department of Health, for BRL 16,000 for the sale of syringes. The third contract was signed with Unesp, for the supply of supplies and hospital materials to the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of Botucatu. The university has administrative autonomy, but is linked to the Secretariat of Science and Technology.

Feder announced the commitment that Multilaser would not participate in new bids with the government of São Paulo, after the Secretary of Education contracted the company for R$ 200 million to deliver 97 thousand notebooks.

This contract was made at the end of December, still in the management of Rodrigo Garcia (PSDB), but Feder had already accepted to be secretary of the folder.

This Friday (11), Federal Deputy Luciene Cavalcante and State Deputy Carlos Giannazi, both from PSOL, made a representation for the São Paulo Public Prosecutor’s Office to investigate whether there is a conflict of interest and “possible wrongdoing and crimes committed “.

In January, the TCE (State Court of Auditors) determined the opening of an investigation to determine the legality of the contracts, but decided to dismiss the representation.

In a note, the Government of São Paulo said that the new contracts were made with other secretariats.

“Since he took office at the beginning of the year, Secretary Renato Feder has determined that the aforementioned company will not have any participation in the acquisition or bidding processes linked to his portfolio. He even notified Multilaser on February 24 for the delay in delivering the notebooks auctioned in May 2022”, he says.

Multilaser, on the other hand, said that “there is no legal impediment to the supply of equipment to the government of São Paulo, since Mr. Renato Feder is not part of the administration of our company”.

“As a demonstration of our commitment to transparency and a conservative approach, we have decided not to sign new contracts with the São Paulo state government’s secretary of education while Mr. Renato Feder holds the position of secretary. As for the other secretariats, they are independent and there is no restriction on sales by the Multi group”, he said.