TCU opens process to investigate Central Bank president

The Federal Court of Accounts (TCU) opened a process to investigate signs of irregularities that would have been committed by the president of the Central Bank, Roberto Campos Neto, when he planned to outsource the management of the institution’s assets to private market agents.

The investigation was opened this Monday (24) after the deputy attorney general of the Public Ministry with the TCU, Lucas Rocha Furtado, sent a request asking for the investigation. The rapporteur for the case will be Minister Benjamin Zymler.

“To investigate the signs of irregularities, despite the interest of the current president of the Central Bank, Mr. Roberto Campos Neto, in outsourcing the management of Central Bank assets, especially in relation to the management of Brazil’s international reserves; urgently request that the case requires due explanations from Mr. Roberto Campos Neto on the statements made aiming at the transparency and stability of the Brazilian monetary policy”, confirmed the TCU to People’s Gazette this Tuesday (25).

Furtado says in the application that this outsourcing of management could “directly undermine Brazilian sovereignty” by allowing outsiders to have access to “sensitive data on the country’s financial stability” (see full text).

“Given all the risks involved, in my opinion, it is inadmissible to outsource the Central Bank’s asset management, especially with regard to the management of Brazil’s international reserves,” said the deputy attorney general.

The request for verification came after Campos Neto said, in an interview on the YouTube channel of investment consultancy Black Rock Brasil, that there is a plan to outsource the BC’s asset management, but that he is unaware of the specifics.

Lucas Rocha Furtado asks in the application that the TCU request “with the urgency that the case requires” the due explanations on the statements, aiming at the “transparency and stability of the Brazilian monetary policy”.

Roberto Campos Neto was contacted to comment on the investigation, but did not comment until the close of the report.

Through social networks, the national president of the PT, Gleisi Hoffmann, said that she will attach to the process a request for verification made to the Senate by nine parties on the conduct of monetary policy. “And there is still that distortion of BRL 1 trillion in BC accounts under TCU verification. It’s all very serious,” she commented.

The distortion cited by the parliamentarian refers to an accounting inconsistency identified in 2019 according to data collected by the Comptroller General of the Union (CGU), which later evolved into a lawsuit filed at the TCU.

After due diligence, CGU auditors concluded that the statements “do not adequately reflect, in all relevant aspects, the equity situation, the financial result and the cash flows of the BC”, according to a report to which the Folha de São Paulo newspaper had access.

Central Bank auditors explained to the rapporteur for the process, Minister Jonathan de Jesus, that there was nothing wrong with the accounts presented and that balance sheets for later years were approved without reservations by the TCU itself.