President of Eletrobras resigns amid controversies with the government

Eletrobras announced, on Monday (14th) the resignation of Wilson Ferreira Junior from the company’s presidency and the referral of the then chairman of the board of directors, Ivan de Souza Monteiro, to the position.

Monteiro is an experienced name, having been CFO of Banco do Brasil and chairman of Credit Suisse. He was also ahead of Petrobras between 2018 and 2019, during the Temer government.

The presidency of the Eletrobras board will be assumed by Vicente Falconi Campos. The vacant seat on the board, due to Monteiro’s promotion, will be occupied by Felipe Villela Dias.

Ferreira Junior’s resignation comes at a time of tension between the company and the government. The Eletrobras privatization process, carried out last year, has been the target of criticism by the current administration of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), who even mentioned the possibility of “renationalizing” the company.

In an interview with the website Brazil 247 in March, Lula criticized the privatization of Eletrobras, describing it as a “crime against the country”. He expressed the intention to recover the company if the government is able to do so.

“You privatized a company of that size and used the money for what? It is as if you owned your house and said that you decided to sell your house to pay off your debt. What are you going to stick with in life? A company like Eletrobras is a heritage of this country and has to take a lot of responsibility”, he said at the time.

Lula also criticized the government’s power in managing the former state-owned company, stating that “although the government has 40% of the shares, it only participates in the voting with 10%. And if the government wants to buy shares, it has to pay triple the price it pays.” another company. It was made to prohibit people from taking it back”.