The Chief Minister of the Civil House of the Lula government, Rui Costa (photo), appears in the plea bargain of a businesswoman who sold, but did not deliver, respirators to the government of Bahia in April 2020. Costa was governor of the state at the time.
The contract in question was closed for 48 million reais, and the businesswoman responsible for the sale, Cristiana Taddeoout of the blue Hempcare, has already returned 10 million to the public coffers. According to her, the sale was closed with Costa’s authorization and mediated by a Bahian businessman who introduced himself as a friend of the governor and the then first lady. Aline Peixoto.
That friend would have charged commissions totaling 11 million reais. The former secretary of the Civil House Bruno Dauster he also said in a statement to the Federal Police that the negotiations received Costa’s approval.
“Benefited”
“I thought that the negotiations to conclude the contract with Consórcio Nordeste took place very quickly, but I understood that I was benefiting because I had agreed to pay significant commissions to government intermediaries.“, says the businesswoman in the statement, the content of which was revealed by Tab Uol.
Founded to distribute cannabidiol-based medicines, Hempcare had no qualifications or experience in the importation of lung respirators, as its owner herself admitted.
The Tab Uol report describes, based on the accusation, what the path of the business would have been:
On the night of April 5, 2020, the businesswoman received a call from the then secretary of the Civil House of the government of Bahia, Bruno Dauster, who expressed interest in purchasing Hempcare respirators.
It was Rui Costa himself who passed Hempcare’s contact details on to Bruno Dauster, according to his statement to the PF, with instructions that he negotiate with them to purchase the respirators.
According to the businesswoman, Dauster stressed in the dialogues that ‘it depended on the authorization of Rui Costa dos Santos [governador do Estado da Bahia] to make decisions’.“
Respirators
The businesswoman told the PF that she received privileged information about the maximum amount that would be paid for the items. The contract was then closed for the purchase of 300 devices, at a price of 28,900 dollars each.
Payment was made before the respirators were delivered, which did not occur because the Chinese company responsible for supply no longer had the devices. As Cristiana Taddeo had already paid the commissions to the business intermediaries, she was unable to return the money.
Costa defends himself
Rui Costa defended himself in a note sent to Tab Uol, in which he said that “after the non-delivery of the respirators, the then governor Rui Costa ordered the Bahia Public Security Secretariat to open an investigation against those responsible for the diversion of resources destined to purchase the equipment”.
“They were arrested by the Civil Police by order of the Bahian Justice weeks after the complaint”says the note, which follows:
“The former governor never dealt with any agent or intermediary on the issue of purchasing this or any other health equipment. During the pandemic, purchases made by states and municipalities in Brazil and around the world were made with advance payment. This was the prevailing condition at that time. Former governor Rui Costa wants the investigation to continue and for those responsible for embezzling public money to be duly punished and for there to be a court order to reimburse the public treasury.”
