Rui Costa: Minister did not commit illegality by omitting home – 03/22/2023 – Power

Minister Rui Costa (Casa Civil) stated that Paulo Pimenta (Secretary of Social Communication) did not commit any illegality by omitting the house where he lives in Brasília from his declaration of assets to the Electoral Justice.

As revealed to Sheetthe property, acquired for R$ 1.6 million in 2013 (equivalent to approximately R$ 3 million in inflation-adjusted values) is located in Lago Norte, a valued neighborhood of the federal capital, and was not part of any equity list presented by the minister in the 2014, 2018 and 2022 elections.

In the last dispute, in which he was re-elected federal deputy for the PT, Pimenta declared that he had assets of only R$ 192,800.

For Costa, Pimenta provided the necessary clarifications in a note and proved that there was no illegality. “Brazilian law allows and it is legal, if you are married, that you make the statement linking the two CPFs. (…) He put in the note that the statement was always in his wife’s statement”, he said.

The minister of the Presidency’s Social Communication Secretariat claimed that the house in question is his and his wife’s property and is informed in her declaration to the Federal Revenue, in the income tax reports.

“Where is the illegality there? The electoral law does not require that the candidate’s declaration list the assets that are declared in the woman’s name. He has to deliver his income tax declaration, which states whether he is linked to the husband or the woman”, said Rui Costa.

The Electoral Law (9.504/1997) requires all politicians who intend to run for office to submit an updated declaration of all their assets in the candidacy registration request. The information is published on the transparency pages of the TSE (Tribunal Superior Eleitoral) for consultation by any voter.

But the asset declarations made to the IRS and the Electoral Court have different formats and objectives. Compliance with one does not exclude the obligation of the other.

The annual income tax report made to the Treasury has tax purposes and its own rules, in addition to being confidential, that is, its information cannot be accessed by any citizen.

The declaration of assets to the Electoral Justice is public, and the politician must include the current list of assets, containing a simplified description and the value declared to the Revenue, without the need to include addresses or other detailed data.

Houses close to the minister’s and of similar size are listed for more than R$5 million. The lot has 848 square meters and 441 square meters of built area, according to the deed of the property.

On the last 10th, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) and the President of the Chamber, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), attended a dinner at Paulo Pimenta’s house to discuss the impasse between the Chamber and the Senate regarding the resumption of of the functioning of the commissions responsible for analyzing the MPs (provisional measures).