TCU forms majority for Eletrobras privatization

The Federal Court of Auditors (TCU ) formed a majority this Wednesday (18) to approve the second part of the capitalization process for electrobras in which the Union will no longer control the majority of the state-owned company’s share capital.

The vote of the rapporteur, Minister Aroldo Cedraz, was in favor of the process, accepting most of the proposals from the technical unit and the Public Ministry and suggesting specific adjustments to the model proposed by the federal government .

Cedraz was accompanied by ministers Benjamin Zymler. Ministers Bruno Dantas, Walton Alencar Rodrigues, Jorge Oliveira, Augusto Nardes and Antonio Anastasia have yet to vote.

The trial at the TCU involved the second part of the analysis of the capitalization , referring to the modeling of the procedure. In February of this year, the agency had already approved estimates of the amount moved by the process, in the region of R$ 67 billion.

With the new approval, the government expects to carry out the company’s share offering by July, without inserting the capitalization into the electoral window from the second semester.

In his vote this Wednesday, Minister Vital do Rêgo pointed out six alleged illegalities in the process, including the valuation of Itaipu and the dividends linked to Eletronuclear, criticized the government’s lack of transparency, errors in the calculation of Eletrobras’ value and proposed that capitalization be suspended until a TCU investigation into provisions was completed. However, he was not followed by the other ministers.

deadlock in the TCU

The trial by the TCU began in April, but was postponed after Minister Vital do Rêgo asked for a review.

Initially, the analysis period requested by Vital was 60 days, which would make capitalization unfeasible this year. However, after requests from colleagues, the period was reduced to 20 days.

During the TCU session last Wednesday (11), the minister anticipated some elements of his vote and the problems he would have encountered.

The minister claims to have identified a “high accounting of provisions for contingencies” and determined that the technical area of ​​the TCU open an internal investigation to investigate them. Provisions refer to financial liabilities with an uncertain value or payment date.

According to him, the problem would be that, in the 3rd quarter of 2021, Eletrobras increased from R$ 17 billion to R$ 26 billion the value of the so-called individual provisioning to meet judicial decisions contrary to the state, but without a defined date for payment.

The minister understands that, if Eletrobras is capitalized and this amount is reverted in favor of the company, today’s shareholders will have lost these resources with the sale.

Vital do Rêgo also asked to be seen in the judgment of the first part of the capitalization process, when he disagreed with the government’s accounts on the grant amount that Eletrobras would need to pay to operate hydroelectric plants.

At the time, the trial was postponed in 2021 and resumed in February of the following year, but the minister’s position did not win majority support, which followed only the adjustments proposed by Aroldo Cedraz .