The Financial Inspection and Control Commission of the Chamber heard this Wednesday (1) the attorney general of the Union, Bruno Bianco Leal. To the parliamentarians, he explained the involvement of the Attorney General’s Office (AGU) in the defense of former parliamentary advisor Walderice Santos da Conceição, known as Wal do Açaí. 
In March, the Federal Public Ministry (MPF) in Brasília, sent to the Federal Court an action for administrative improbity against the former parliamentary secretary and President Jair Bolsonaro. The action is related to the period in which Bolsonaro served as a federal deputy. According to the MPF, Walderice was nominated, in February 2003, to occupy the position of parliamentary secretary and remained full until August 2018, when she was dismissed. According to the MPF, during the period, Walderice was not in Brasília and did not perform a function related to the position.
In the action, the MPF demands the return of all salaries paid to it in the period. The updated value exceeds R$ 498 thousand.
When justifying the work of the Attorney General’s Office (AGU) in the case, Bianco highlighted that the law is very clear. “We not only defend deputies in office, we not only defend civil servants in office, we defend former parliamentarians and former civil servants, provided that the act in relation to which he is being questioned judicially or extrajudicially has been an act performed in the exercise of the mandate or when the servant was in the exercise of the position”, justified the AGU.
To the deputies, the minister also pointed out that the case was brought to the AGU by Walderice herself and that “at no time” was this matter discussed by him with President Jair Bolsonaro. Bianco added that he learned about the case from the press and that the investigation at the AGU is carried out by technical servants, who are impersonal. Also according to him, the case of Wal do Açaí is not unprecedented. The Union’s attorney general said that the agency is involved in dozens of investigations that began after public servants were removed from their duties.
On more than one occasion, the minister countered the Public Ministry, which, among other points, alleges that the former advisor did not perform the function because she was not in Brasília, in addition, she presented incorrect time sheets. For Bianco, it is not up to anyone, apart from the parliamentarian himself, to verify the point of his advisors. The attorney general of the Union also dismissed news published by the press about the case on the grounds that “they are often biased”.
During the commission’s meeting, tempers flared between parliamentarians from the government’s base and the opposition. There was shouting and fighting between Jorge Solla (PT-BA) and Alê Silva (Republicans-RJ). Deputy Leo de Brito (PT-AC), who was chairing the meeting at the time, decided to close it.
Historic
The request to hear Bruno Bianco was presented by Deputy Elias Vaz (PSB-GO), for whom there is a misuse of purpose in the expenditure of public resources. He had suggested summoning Bianco Leal, but the collegiate only agreed to the invitation, which in practice relieves the Union’s attorney general from attending.
