Opposition to the Jair Bolsonaro government advanced this Wednesday (22) in an attempt to garner support to resurrect the creation of the Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry (CPI) of the Ministry of Education (MEC) after the arrest of former minister Milton Ribeiro.
According to the leader of the opposition in the Senate, Randolfe Rodrigues (Rede-AP), 26 of the 27 minimum signatures necessary for the creation of the CPI have already been obtained.
Randolfe’s idea is to get two or three more signatures by the end of this week, to have a margin of safety. In April, the opposition obtained 27 signatures, but parliamentarians withdrew their support, which prevented the installation of the collegiate.
The request for the creation of the CPI states that the collegiate has the objective “to investigate irregularities and crimes committed in the allocation of public funds from the Ministry of Education and the National Fund for the Development of Education (FNDE)”.
“The complaints point out that the then minister Milton Ribeiro prioritized friends of two pastors at the request of the President of the Republic, Jair Messias Bolsonaro, in the allocation of public funds allocated to the Ministry of Education. In exchange for prioritizing and releasing public funds for the construction of schools and daycare centers, the pastors collected bribes from the mayors, requesting payments in cash, in Bibles and even in gold”, the justification states.
Former education minister Milton Ribeiro was preventively arrested this Wednesday in Santos. The warrant was issued as part of a Federal Police (PF) operation. Pastors Arilton Moura, in Pará, and Gilmar Santos, in Brasília, were also arrested in the operation, in addition to the lawyer and former advisor to the MEC Luciano de Freitas Musse and the former advisor to the Municipality of Goiânia Helder Bartolomeu.
According to the PF, the “Acesso Pago” operation aims to investigate the practice of influence peddling and corruption for the release of public funds from the FNDE, linked to the MEC.
Randolfe informed that, if created, the CPI should last up to 90 days, but it could be terminated earlier, even more so because of the electoral campaign and the October election. The collegiate would be made up of 11 starters and 11 substitutes, he said.
The senator also said he believes that the federal government will try to prevent more senators from joining the MEC’s CPI so that it does not reach the minimum required signatures. However, he sees that he will have senators available to run the collegiate in Brasília, even on the eve of the elections.
The government leader in the Senate, Carlos Portinho (PL-RJ), defended that, even if Randolfe gets the 27 signatures, other CPI requests should have priority because they are already in the queue, like one who wants to investigate organized crime in the country. , presented by Eduardo Girão (Podemos-CE).
Earlier this Wednesday, Senate President Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG) declared that if Randolfe’s application meets all the necessary requirements, the CPI will be installed. He pondered, however, that “the fact of being very close to the election ends up harming the work of this or any other CPI that may be installed”.
“Actually, the CPI requirement is a determined fact that needs to be narrated on what there is the minimum just cause, minimum evidence, indications in relation to this fact”, he said, adding that only the preventive detention of Milton Ribeiro “is not necessarily decisive for the installation of the CPI”.
Attempts in the Chamber of Deputies
Meanwhile, opposition federal deputies are also trying to launch investigations into acts in the MEC in the Chamber. However, the initiatives are still more incipient compared to the Senate.
Federal deputy Rogério Correia (PT-MG) told the report that he has resumed efforts to collect the necessary support for a MEC CPI in the House. He had submitted the application in March, when the allegations came to light, but since then he has not been able to get massive support from his colleagues.
This Wednesday, Correia said he had sent messages to all deputies reinforcing the request for a CPI because of Milton Ribeiro’s arrest. Now, he said, he has 77 of the 171 required signatures.
He believes that opposition to the federal government in the House should secure around 130 signatures. To reach the 171, it will invest in conversations with centrist parties and dissidents from the allied base. “I hope to have 100 signatures by Friday. Because these MEC resources under suspicion should be in schools,” he declared.
President of the Mixed Parliamentary Front for Education, federal deputy Professor Israel Batista (PSB-DF) also intends to revive the creation of an investigative commission covering both the Chamber and the Senate. Therefore, a Joint Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry (CPMI).
He told the CNN currently have 90 signatures. For a CPMI it is necessary to have the formal support of 171 deputies and 27 senators.
Source: CNN Brasil
