Rio eliminates competitor from bidding on betting – 03/19/2024 – Sports

The government of Rio de Janeiro disqualified a company that proposed more resources to the state in the financial operations of online sports betting for a peculiar reason: the absence of a zero after the decimal point.

There were only two competitors in the contest. Thus, the requirement eliminated one of them and handed over the million-dollar service to a company with only three years of existence, a history of suspicions in other competition in Paraná and political ties that were not transparent.

The victor, called Pixs Cobrança e Serviços em Tecnologia, has as its director a person who is in the management or administration of ten companies linked to the lawyer Willer Tomaz, who represents several politicians from the center.

The office in which he is a partner, with lawyer Eugênio Aragão, still defends the governor of Rio himself, Cláudio Castro (PL).

Last year, Loterj (Rio de Janeiro Lottery) created an accreditation process for sports betting companies, known as Bets, to operate legally in Rio. Sheet revealed, the notice allowed betting to take place throughout the territory, which defies current legislation.

Four betting houses already operate legally in this way, following their accreditation with Loterj — the federal process has not yet been completed.

But before choosing the bookmakers, the organization held a tender, starting in December 2022, for a single company to operate the payment method for all bets and prize payments.

The payment method company keeps a percentage of the bets, and, of these amounts, passes a portion of these amounts to the state government. Whoever presented the highest percentage of transfers to the government would win.

At the opening of the proposals, the company called Idea Maker, which has been operating in the field for over ten years, presented 26%. Pixs, 20%.

Loterj’s bidding committee, however, disqualified Idea Maker on the grounds that the proposal had only two zeros after the comma, and not three.

The company appealed, noting that its proposal, which was more advantageous for the state, “was disqualified from the competition solely and exclusively because the value indicated in its proposal indicated a percentage of 26.00% and not 26.000%”.

The notice provided for the proposal to have three zeros after the decimal point, but the new bidding law of 2021 recommends that “failure to comply with merely formal requirements that do not compromise the assessment of the bidder’s qualifications or the understanding of the content of their proposal will not will result in your removal from the bidding or the invalidation of the process”.

The report identified at least four actions in the Federal Audit Court whose understanding is that purely formal allegations should not prosper.

After the disqualification of the only competitor, Loterj agreed with Pixs a value higher than Idea Maker’s proposal, of 26.455%, but did not explain the circumstances that led to this agreement.

In a note, Loterj stated that “the notice was validated by the Court of Justice of the State of Rio de Janeiro and the Court of Auditors of the State of Rio de Janeiro, and included the participation of payment companies that act in accordance with the rules of the Brazilian central bank”.

Those responsible for Idea Maker were contacted and preferred not to comment. The Rio government was also contacted and did not respond.

According to lawyer Fernando Zardo, a specialist in tenders and a PhD student in administrative law at USP, excessive formalism is something that needs to be combated in tenders. “The objective of bidding is to obtain the best advantage, but also equality between competitors. In this case, it seems that there was none,” he says.

When Pixs was chosen by Loterj, its formal headquarters were still in Paraná, with the owners of a company called Pay Brokers. This company had already won a selection to perform the same service in the Paraná Lottery, in a process surrounded by suspicions, as revealed by Agência Pública in August 2023.

Among the partners at Pay Brokers is Henrique Oliveira Moreira, who worked in the Ratinho Jr. (PSD) government during the production of the notice. He is married to the daughter of the president of the TCE (State Audit Court) of Paraná, and his wife’s mother also works in the government. The TCE even suspended the process, but later allowed it to continue.

People linked to Pay Brokers donated R$400,000 to Ratinho Jr.’s campaign in 2022. Only Henrique de Oliveira Moreira and Edson Antonio Lenzi Filho, partners of the winning consortium, donated R$130,000 to the campaign. The rest was donated by Edson Lenzi’s brother’s family.

After being chosen in Rio to handle payment methods, Pixs moves to Rio, with the same CNPJ. In the company’s public records, the names of Henrique Oliveira Moreira and Lidia Maria Figueiredo Mazelli now appear.

It is Lidia Mazelli who appears as administrator or director of companies related to lawyer Willer Tomaz, such as communication vehicles in Maranhão, an air taxi company, a property management company, among others.

When contacted, Willer Tomaz indicated that Lidia would work as a professional administrator, with bureaucratic and regulatory issues for the companies for which she is hired. She would not be a formal employee.

Willer would have recommended Lidia’s name to Pixs, as he manages several companies. The reporter was unable to speak to Lidia Mazzelli, despite contact by phone and email.

Pay Brokers says in a statement that it is the sole owner of Pixs. The company states, however, that Lidia Mazelli is in fact a director of the company and would not provide services such as those described by the lawyer.

The company did not respond to where or when it works. He also stated that Willer never represented the company Pixs and has no relationship with this company. “[Willer] defended the interests of Pay Brokers and/or partners in specific situations in the past, situations in which specific powers of attorney were granted”, says the company’s note.

Willer Tomaz has already worked in actions alongside the current president of Loterj, Hazenclever Lopes Cançado, with a history of working with politicians from PL, the party of governor Claudio Castro and also former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL).

Willer is known for his connection with senator Flávio Bolsonaro (PL-RJ). He also advocates for the president of the Chamber, Arthur Lira (PP-AL) and has already defended Lula’s (PT) campaign.