The president of the Federal Court of Auditors (TCU), Bruno Dantas, stated that the Lula government’s proposal to place a limit on the contingency – preventive blocking – of expenses in the 2024 Budget “is not an easy issue”. According to him, the Public Ministry together with the TCU may be heard on the issue.
The technical area of the TCU warned, in an opinion, of the risk that the limit on the contingency of this year’s expenses would violate the Fiscal Responsibility Law (LRF) and the law on crimes against public finances. The analysis was carried out in response to a consultation from the Ministry of Planning in January. The request came from the minister herself, Simone Tebet, according to Dantas.
The Ministry of Planning questioned the TCU about whether the device included in the Budget Guidelines Law (LDO) of 2024, which determines a maximum contingency value of R$25.9 billion in expenses, could violate any fiscal rule.
He stated that the topic was evaluated by three auditors, a requirement of TCU governance, who presented “different opinions” on the matter, which shows how controversial it is. “There is such a big controversy that the three auditors, in three different instances, gave three different opinions, with slight differences, but distinct, which shows that it is not an easy issue,” Dantas told the Estadão/Broadcast (Grupo Estado’s real-time news system) and CNN, during a visit to New York yesterday.
New opinion
In view of this, the TCU’s specialized audit unit proposed that the Public Ministry be heard about the questioning made by Planning to give a fourth opinion on the matter, according to Dantas. He said that such a step is “not common” and only after that will the issue be analyzed by the case’s rapporteur, minister Jhonatan de Jesus. “I don’t know what the plenary will say. The plenary is the only instance for the TCU to make a statement,” said Dantas, asked whether the TCU would follow the vision of the technical area, which pointed out the risk of violating the budget blocking limit.
“Auditors have an opinion. The Public Prosecutor’s Office has an opinion. But the only person who decides on behalf of the TCU is the plenary. Not even the rapporteur alone decides. What we will have is the rapporteur’s vote that will be discussed, voted on and decided in the court’s plenary” , said the president of TCU.
It is not possible to measure how long the debate on the topic will take, he said. According to Dantas, there are still pending procedural steps such as, for example, the rapporteur deciding whether to forward the matter to the Public Ministry so that they can comment on the matter. If triggered, the agency has up to 15 days to respond. Afterwards, the rapporteur analyzes all opinions, for as long as he deems necessary, and, finally, takes his understanding to the plenary.
Dantas says there is no jurisprudence on interference in state-owned companies
Dantas stated that it is not yet possible to know what the body’s position will be on accusations of interference by the government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) in state-owned companies, such as the recent imbroglio involving Petrobras and the distribution of dividends to shareholders. Above all, the fact that there is no “jurisprudence on the subject” in the TCU, according to him, weighs heavily.
“During (Jair) Bolsonaro’s government there were also some representations discussing the same issue, also at Petrobras. And the TCU plenary never judged this issue, condemning public managers for it”, said Dantas, while visiting New York.
Last week, the deputy attorney general of the Public Ministry (MP) at the TCU, Lucas Furtado, asked the Court to investigate possible interference in Petrobras by Lula. He pointed out signs of non-compliance with the State Law, which prohibits political interference in mixed-capital companies, even though the Union has control.
The information is from the newspaper The State of S. Paulo.
