TSE charges BRL 40 million from parties, and Congress seeks amnesty – 05/13/2023 – Power

The TSE (Superior Electoral Court) concluded this month the judgment of the parties’ accounts for 2017 and determined the return to the public coffers of at least R$ 40 million, as reimbursement and fine, an amount that still needs to be corrected by inflation.

A Sheet consulted all the judgments and votes relating to the 35 parties existing at the time —today there are 31—, documentation that shows an extensive list of deviations that can be forgiven if Congress approves the Amnesty PEC, a proposed amendment to the Constitution that intends to pass a rubber in all the irregularities that occurred.

The measure has the support of both the government and the opposition and should be approved on Tuesday (16) by the Chamber’s CCJ (Constitution and Justice Commission), the first step in the process.

In all, the TSE disapproved 19 of the 2017 party accounts and approved the other 16 with reservations.

The judgments show expenses unrelated to party activity and for the benefit of leaders, such as remuneration payments in amounts above the constitutional ceiling and for companies linked to them, as well as a general lack of proof of the allocation of funds.

Only the PSD was not condemned to return public values, in addition to Novo, which only this year decided that it will start using public funds and that it should refund R$ 39 thousand received in 2017 from legal entities and individuals.

In recent years, Congress has boosted the transfer of public money to the parties, which in 2022 alone received R$ 6 billion. On the contrary, it has promoted a series of changes to make the law more lenient, despite the long history of embezzlement of public money, which includes spending on luxury restaurants, buying helicopters, real estate and cars worth more than R$ 100,000.

In April 2022, for example, deputies and senators approved a PEC granting amnesty to parties for non-compliance in previous elections with quotas encouraging the participation of blacks and women in politics.

Since the ban on business financing of politicians, parties have as their main source of funds the public coffers —the Party Fund, which will allocate R$1.185 billion to them in 2023, and the Electoral Fund, which in 2022 distributed R$5 billion.

Signed by 184 deputies, including government leaders, José Guimarães (PT-CE), and opposition leaders, Carlos Jordy (PL-RJ), the PEC prohibits any punishment for illegalities committed until its enactment, including disrespect for the minimum transfer funding for women and blacks in elections.

If it advances in Congress, however, there is a risk of judicialization, because some entities consider that there could only be amnesty for cases that have not yet been judged until enactment.

In relation to 2017, the TSE disapproved the accounts of PHS (incorporated into Podemos), PTB, Pros (incorporated into Solidariedade), PMN, Cidadania, Avante, PCB, Solidariedade, PRTB, PCO, PSC, PPL (incorporated into PC do B ), Agir, PRP (incorporated to Patriota), PV, PMB, DC, PSTU and Rede.

Proportionately to what he received from public coffers, the most serious case is that of the small PHS, which in 2019 was incorporated into Podemos.

The court concluded on March 24 that the party irregularly invested around 60% of what it received from public coffers in 2017, ordering the return of R$4.2 million, adjusted for inflation, in addition to a 12% fine.

In the opinion on the case, the Public Prosecution Service tabulated 31 irregularities, among them the statement that the party spent R$ 1.5 million in public funds without having presented any supporting tax documentation, demonstration of link with party activities or proof of the execution of the services.

The second party with the largest volume of resources to be returned is Roberto Jefferson’s PTB —R$3.2 million, plus monetary restatement and a 12% fine.

The TSE considered excessive and irregular spending on accommodation — monthly fee at the Hotel Nacional, at a cost of R$ 390,000 a year — and on remuneration for directors, in particular the R$ 33,800 monthly paid to Jefferson, at the time president of the party , higher than the constitutional ceiling.

Minister Ricardo Lewandowski, who reported on the judgment in February, wrote in his vote that the remuneration of party leaders amounted to R$ 1.6 million in the year, constituting a “serious failure” given the “lack of definition of transparent criteria that set consistent values with the market and with the attributions and responsibilities”.

According to the minister, these expenses are incompatible with the principle of economy. “We must be rigorous with the accountability of public resources, as it is not money from the parties, but from Brazilian society.”

Jefferson has been in custody since October 2022, when he resisted the bullet in compliance with a collection order issued by the STF.

The DC, on the other hand, had as one of the irregularities pointed out the expenditure of R$ 69 thousand of the budget with fueling cars at the post of the party president, José Maria Eymael.

“I maintain the irregularity of expenses with the purchase of fuel at Centro Automotivo Caminho Certo, owned by the president of the party, either due to a conflict of interests, given the direct influence of that party leader in the transaction, or due to the impossibility of proving the economy of hiring, in addition to the questionable amount spent in the 2017 financial year”, said the rapporteur, Minister Carlos Horbach, in his vote.

Among the parties that had their bills approved with reservations, the PT is responsible for the largest share to be returned, R$ 4.86 million, largely due to the lack of supporting documentation for the expense.

Lula’s acronym was the one that received the highest amount in 2017, R$ 93.5 million. The irregularities pointed out by the TSE therefore amounted to approximately 5% of this value.

“It is important to point out that even with a series of limitations, especially of technological resources, every year the Electoral Justice identifies a series of frauds and irregularities, in which the parties often relapse”, says Marcelo Issa, executive director of Partidary Transparency .

“More deviations would be identified if this work were improved. The PEC, however, goes exactly in the opposite direction. Being in favor of this proposal means carrying out a serious attack on the Electoral Justice and on clean, transparent and democratic elections.”

To be approved, a PEC needs the support of at least 60% of parliamentarians (308 out of 513 in the Chamber and 49 out of 81 in the Senate), in two rounds of voting in each House. If this occurs, it is enacted and becomes effective, with no possibility of vetoing the Executive Branch.

Parties deny irregularities in the use of public funds

All the parties that conclusively manifested themselves in the final phase of the trials denied the irregularities for which they had their bills disapproved.

In some cases, they claim that the technical bodies of the TSE did not allow for adversarial proceedings and refused to analyze clarifications.

A Sheet DC stated, in a note, that the party’s decision to fill up its vehicles at the gas station owned by Eymael complied with the principle of economy and also observed the quality of the product.

“The supply of party vehicles at the Centro Automotivo Caminho Certo strictly obeyed market prices, without any undue advantage either for the party or for the resale of fuel.”

Podemos stated that the merger took place in 2019 and, therefore, the actions relating to previous years concern the leaders at the time, when the PHS was involved in legal disputes over its command.

“Poss, by incorporating it, ends up inheriting this liability from a technical point of view, but from a practical point of view it had no management or responsibility for what was done with the fund’s resources that year,” said Alexandre Bissoli, lawyer for the We can.

A Sheet he was unable to make contact with the PTB office or with Jefferson’s defense.

In its final arguments, the PT said it had presented ample documentation that would deserve to be reexamined by the court.

“What stands out is the solemn refusal to examine the attached collection and even innovations about which the Provider was not given the opportunity [partido] the due demonstration”, says the piece, also stating, for example, that a digital document was refused by the technicians on the grounds that it was not possible to open it.