The Senate Education Commission wants to hear, next Thursday (31), the Minister of Education, Milton Ribeiro, about an alleged favoring of requests from pastors in the allocation of public funds from the portfolio at the request of President Jair Bolsonaro. Initially, the request by Senator Randolfe Rodrigues (Rede-AP), approved this Thursday (24) in the collegiate, spoke of a summons by the minister, but, in the face of the appeal of government senator Wellington Fagundes (PL-MT), the request was transformed in invitation.
The change in the nature of the request was requested after the party’s president, Senator Marcelo Castro (MDB-PI), said that the commission received, in the early hours of this morning, a letter from Ribeiro in which he makes himself available for clarification on recordings . Castro also said that even before the official letter, by telephone, the minister had already talked to him about the willingness to go to the Senate to provide explanations.
In addition to Ribeiro, the collegiate also approved invitations to the president of the National Fund for the Development of Education (FNDE) Marcelo Lopes da Ponte and to pastors Gilmar Silva dos Santos – president of the National Convention of Churches and Ministers of the Assemblies of God in Brazil – and Arilton Moura, political affairs advisor at the National Convention of Churches and Ministers of the Assemblies of God in Brazil. The guest list also includes the mayors of Rosário (MA), Calvet Filho; Anajatuba (MA), Helder Aragão; Centro Novo (MA), Junior Garimpeiro; Bom Lugar (MA), Marlene Miranda and Luis Domingues (MA), Gilberto Braga. These still do not have a set date to go to the commission.
Defense
On Tuesday (22), in a press release, Milton Ribeiro said that there was no type of favoring in the distribution of funds from the ministry. According to the minister, the allocation of federal resources follows the budget legislation. “There is no possibility for the minister to determine the allocation of resources to favor or disadvantage any municipality or state,” said the minister.
“I also record that the President of the Republic did not ask for preferential assistance to anyone, he only asked that he could receive everyone who came to us, including the people mentioned in the report”, says the minister in the note.
Also this Wednesday (23) the Attorney General of the Republic, Augusto Aras, asked the Federal Supreme Court (STF) the opening of an inquiry to investigate the involvement of the Minister of Education in the distribution of funds from the ministry to municipalities.
