The Joint Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry (CPMI) of the Senate that investigates deviations in the INSS canceled the session scheduled for this Monday (17) after those investigated called to testify presented a medical certificate and habeas corpus (HC).
Former INSS Payments and Benefits Coordinator Jucimar Fonseca da Silva presented a medical certificate. According to the Commission’s presidency, despite the Medical Board having concluded that he could attend, the person under investigation informed that he would not attend the session.
Eleven requests were presented to summon Jucimar Fonseca, both from government and opposition parliamentarians.
Deputy Paulo Pimenta (PT-RS) stated that the presence of the person being investigated was necessary because he defended in his opinion the reactivation of agreements with entities suspected of embezzling resources from retirees and pensioners.
“The hearing will make it possible to clarify what technical criteria were considered to validate agreements and whether due diligence or auditing was carried out prior to the approval of the discounts”, explained Pimenta.
The second deponent of the day, businessman Thiago Schettini, will not appear before the Commission after obtaining a habeas corpus by Minister of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) André Mendonça.
Although he was summoned to the CPMI as a witness, minister André Mendonça argued that his condition is being investigated before the courts, which gives him the right to remain silent so as not to incriminate himself.
“In the scenario in which the summons is a clear indication that the patient’s condition would be that of being investigated for the commission of some criminal offense, I have understood, in line with the firm jurisprudence of the Second Panel of this Court, that attendance at the CPI would become optional”, decided the magistrate.
Three different requests asked for Schettini to be summoned, all from deputies from the government base. The businessman is identified as a “facilitator” of the INSS corruption scheme, having been the target of investigations by the Federal Police (PF).
He is suspected of receiving funds from the so-called “Careca do INSS”, businessman Antonio Carlos Camilo Antunes, considered the main operator of the scheme. Everyone denies the accusations.
“According to information from the PF, there is strong evidence of a connection between trips made and suspicious financial transactions”, explained Senator Randolfe Rodrigues (PT-AP) when asking for the person under investigation to be summoned to the CPMI.
Developments
Last week, the PF arrested the former president of the National Social Security Institute (INSS) Alessandro Stefanutto. The operation investigates a national scheme of unauthorized associative discounts on INSS retirements and pensions.
On the same day, the former Minister of Labor and Social Security in Jair Bolsonaro’s government, José Carlos Oliveira, and at least two parliamentarians are being investigated for their alleged involvement in the illegal collection of association fees from millions of retirees and pensioners.
