The Minister of Communications, Juscelino Filho, met with President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, this Monday afternoon (6), to explain himself about accusations of using public resources for agendas of private interests. After the meeting, which he classified as “very positive”, the minister posted on Twitter that he remains in office and even announced an agenda with the president’s participation later this month, in the North Region.
“I just left the Planalto Palace, where I had a very positive meeting with President Lula. On that occasion, I clarified the unfounded accusations made against me and detailed some of the various projects and actions of the Ministry of Communications. We have a lot of work ahead of us!” he wrote.
“We are talking about 5G expansion, connectivity in schools and actions in the Connected North and Northeast. Good news: later this month, President Lula and I are going to inaugurate Infovia 01, between the cities of Manaus and Santarém, expanding internet access in the Amazon Region”, he added. The Planalto Palace did not comment on the meeting.
accusations
The minister, who is a federal deputy for Maranhão and is out of office, is being accused of using funds from parliamentary amendments to build roads that give access to his family’s farms in the city of Vitorino Freire (MA). The amendments of more than R$ 5 million were passed on to the City Hall, which has its sister as mayor.
The minister is also being questioned about a trip made in an official Brazilian Air Force (FAB) aircraft, from Brasília to São Paulo, at the end of January, which included work meetings and participation in horse auctions. Juscelino Filho is a breeder of race horses in Maranhão. He even received per diems for all the days he was in the capital of São Paulo, but claims to have already returned the funds. The reports were published by the newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo.
Explanations
Hours before the meeting with the president, Juscelino published a video on his social networks to defend himself against accusations of misuse of public funds. On receiving per diems, Juscelino pointed out “an error in the per diem system”, which ended up including values for weekends, when he had no work schedule. He cites the trip to São Paulo, on the 27th and 28th of January, and a previous trip to Maranhão.
“What happened was that the system automatically generated the daily rates for the entire period, a system error, without differentiating the weekend”, he said. In another post on Twitter, the minister displays a copy of two deposit slips in the single account of the National Treasury. One in the amount of R$ 2,004.45, made on February 28th and another in the amount of R$ 2,786, made on January 19th.
About his investments in the field of purebred horses, which led him to participate in an auction in São Paulo, Juscelino Filho says that everything is declared to the tax authorities. “I always declare all my assets in my income tax return [IR], including my horses. And I want to make it clear: the IRS has always approved all my income tax returns. What’s more, the Electoral Justice also approved my accounts”, he said. “I have a clean record and do not respond to any process and it is important to make that very clear”, he defended himself.
Still in the video, the minister refers to the accusations as “distorted attacks” and denies that he has used funds from parliamentary amendments for works that pave the roads that lead to his family’s properties. “There were no works near my farm or on the access road. And the project aims to serve countless communities that live with mud and dust”, he argued.
