The INSS Joint Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry (CPMI) heard, this Thursday (27), the testimony of Mauro Palombo Concílio, an accountant for companies suspected of having received million-dollar resources from undue discounts on the benefits of retirees and pensioners from the National Social Security Institute (INSS). 
Resident in the United States, Mauro Palombo traveled to Brazil for the hearing, where he also presented technical documents to parliamentarians. As a witness, he reported that he was hired to open, in December 2022, four companies that would receive deposits of association fees from INSS beneficiaries. In January 2023, he took over their accounting.
The period coincides with an increase in undue discounts on benefits. According to the Ministry of Social Security and INSS, in 2023 alone, the institute canceled 420,837 charges due to non-recognition of authorization of discounts.
In one year, between December 2022 and December 2023, the accountant recorded that he received a little less than R$2 billion for the services provided.
Mauro Palombo stated that he was not responsible for the accounting of several companies mentioned by the collegiate rapporteur, deputy Alfredo Gaspar (União-AL).
Money laundering
Asked about the existence of money laundering in the companies where he does the accounting, Mauro Palombo denied having noticed signs of the crime. “I have not been in any situation where it was necessary to do [comunicações ao Coaf – Controle de Atividades Financeiras, – sobre lavagem de dinheiro].”
When asked whether he had suspected that it was a money laundering scheme, the accountant confirmed that it was not possible to know about the possibility, based on the money transfers seen in the clients’ bank statements. And he stated that he was not surprised by the financial movements.
However, rapporteur Alfredo Gaspar appointed him as responsible for the accounting structuring of the associations that made the discounts.
“This money, R$794 million, passed through your accounting structure.”
INSS CPMI meeting to hear accountant Mauro Palombo Concílio – Lula Marques/ Agência Braasil.
Accounting for suspects
Mauro Palombo has among his clients, as an accountant, investigated by the INSS CPMI on suspicion of money laundering. Among them, the former INSS attorney general Virgílio Antônio Ribeiro de Oliveira Filho; his wife, Thaisa Hoffmann Jonasson, who remained silent at CPMI and is suspected of having handled at least R$18 million from the scheme.
“I did Virgílio’s income tax, in 2024, without knowing who he was or this whole situation, which CPMI showed”, admitted the accountant.
Others cited as his clients were:
· Lawyer Eric Douglas Martins Fidelis, son of former INSS Benefits director André Fidelis
· The former director of the Association for Social Support for Retirees and Pensioners (Aasap), Igor Delecrode. The entity is being investigated on suspicion of having created its own biometrics system to defraud the signatures of INSS policyholders and request undue discounts on their behalf
· Businessman João Carlos Camargo Júnior, known as the “tailor of the famous”, who allegedly carried out financial transactions with several of those investigated by CPMI and the Federal Police (PF)
The deponent said that he did not find accounting inconsistencies in the accounts of suspected individuals or companies advised by him.
During his testimony, Mauro Palombo also denied knowing businessman Antonio Carlos Camilo Antunes, known as Careca from INSS, considered the main operator of the fraudulent scheme. He also said he did not know the businessmen Maurício Camisotti and Nelson Wilians. The accountant reported that he only became aware of their identities after the Federal Police operation had been carried out and the work of the INSS CPMI had begun.
Criminal organization
The president of the INSS CPMI, senator Carlos Viana (Podemos-MG), in an interview with TV Senado, assured that the case investigated is not an administrative error, but rather a “very well organized criminal organization” that caused great damage to retirees and pensioners.
“It was very easy to steal from Social Security because of intelligent people, using intelligence for evil, with entities – all of them fake – and oversight that failed.”
The senator criticized the actions of bodies such as the Attorney General’s Office (AGU), the Comptroller General of the Union (CGU), the prosecutor’s offices and Coaf. “It is impressive that Coaf, which takes care of the issue of financial transfers, made absolutely no warning about billions [de reais] that were being moved by companies founded 60 days ago, 90 days ago.”
CPMI is in the final stretch of the first phase of the commission’s work. In 2025, the last two sessions are scheduled for next Monday (December 1st) and Thursday (December 4th).
Carlos Viana says he hopes that CPMI’s work will result in safer legislation.
