Former member of the National Social Security Council (CNPS) Tonia Galleti stated this Monday (20), during testimony at the INSS Joint Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry (CPMI), that since 2019, she has made complaints to authorities from the Ministry of Social Security and the INSS about fraud in associative discounts for retirees and pensioners.
“I had been warning about these occurrences since 2019. At every opportunity, it could be anywhere: in a meeting with the director of benefits, president of the INSS, with the Ministry of Labor, of Social Security, where I had the opportunity I said: ‘look, as Tancredo Neves said, there is a tortoise in the tree'”, he said.
According to Tonia, who is coordinator of the legal department of the National Union of Retirees, Pensioners and Elderly People (Sindnapi), she became aware of the possibility of fraud based on complaints from members.
“It all started with the members complaining, not about the union, but that they were being approached by other entities. The person was going to use the Sindnapi pharmacy and when he got there he was no longer a member, he was affiliated with another institution”, he said. “There was even a director who stopped being a partner and went to an unknown association and he didn’t sign anything”, he added.
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The former board member says she requested the inclusion of a discussion on associative discounts on the agenda of a meeting in 2023, but the topic was never discussed. An investigation by the Federal Police (PF) found that, from 2019 to 2024, there was a significant increase in associative discounts directly on the payroll of INSS retirees and pensioners. In 2020 to 2024, the number increased 77 times, from 18,690 to 1.4 million.
“At that time, in June 2023, I alerted to the fact that we were becoming aware that several entities were acting inappropriately and that it was important that this was addressed by the Council and that documentation should have been provided to know whether these entities had headquarters, all documentation, etc.,” he stated.
Asked by the CPMI rapporteur, Alfredo Gaspar (União-AL) whether the former Minister of Social Security, Carlos Luppi, was present at the council meeting, Tonia stated that yes, the minister was present.
“I think all directors [do Conselho] were present”, said Tonia, who also stated that she also warned the former INSS benefits director, José Carlos Oliveira, in 2021 or 2022.
When asked about the development of the allegations and whether Luppi took any action, Tonia stated that some measures were taken.
“I know that they opened procedures to investigate some of these entities, they said they sent a letter to the Federal Police to inform some things. In the meantime, there was an audit at the TCU and, based on that, normative instruction 162 came out with some procedures [para o desconto nas aposentadorias]”, he reported.
CMG
The rapporteur questioned the growth in the number of Sindnapi members, which, according to Gaspar, from 2019 onwards, the beginning of the entity’s partnership with the insurance broker CMG, linked to Banco BMG, the number of members grew quickly. The entity is one of the organizations investigated for pension and retirement fraud, having, according to the rapporteur, raised R$600 million.
According to the rapporteur, automatic discounts on benefits were operated through a partnership and Sindnapi, through the affiliation of retirees and pensioners, often without authorization.
“The union was stagnating, losing members and they looked for a methodology to reverse this curve. Then the life of Sindnapi met the life of BMG, then this line that was decreasing, from the first contract this line started to increase”, he stated. “From 2008 to 2020 we have a very similar parameter of associative discounts year after year. Then in 2020 it starts to grow at a crazy pace, going from 145 thousand members to 366 thousand in 2023”, he added.
When responding, Tonia stated that the growth in the number of members occurred in a programmed and “organic” way and that the union never falsified member documents.
“The union lives off membership fees. The union has never stolen records or documents from retirees or pensioners to have these members within the union,” he said.
According to her, Sindnapi grew organizedly at around 4% per month.
“Other entities that emerged in the dead of night, they had, for example, zero members, in October and when it arrived in November it had 80 thousand members. When it arrived in December no new members arrived, then it arrived in January and it added 250. As I worked for the union, I know how difficult it is to associate someone, you have to show service, convince the person”, he reported.
Gaspar asked about the transfer of resources to Tonia’s family, through companies and consultancies provided to Sindnapi. According to the rapporteur, the family received more than R$20 million.
Tonia countered, stating that the work was performed and that there was no legal impediment for family members to receive payment for the work performed.
“When I made the complaint to the CNPS, in 2023 and I had been saying this since 2019, with all the authorities. My question is the following, all entities that are honest will be placed in the same basket as the pickaxes”, he criticized.
“You are killing the messenger, then I will tell you, that you take away from citizens the courage to denounce corruption. You put in I don’t know how many millions, but my family worked, you can say that there was a certain immorality, but my family worked. I worked ten, eleven hours a day. I really get really indignant when they want to throw the blame on me that I am naughty, a thief, that I stole, I won’t admit it” finished.
One habeas corpus granted by the minister of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), Alexandre de Moraes, gave Tonia the right not to be forced to answer questions that could incriminate her.
Schema Operator
This Monday, the testimony of the former president of Amar Brasil Clube de Benefícios (ABCB) Felipe Macedo Gomes, identified as an operator of an INSS fraud scheme that, between 2022 and 2024, generated more than R$1.1 billion through undue discounts on social security benefits is also scheduled.
“Amar Brasil Clube de Benefícios (ABCB) was authorized to deduct up to 2.5% on social security benefits in 2022, starting to carry out charges that affected thousands of retirees and pensioners, many without any link or express authorization to join the entity. There are indications that the association worked as a front for irregular financial operations, using the structure of agreements with the INSS to illicit fundraising, which constitutes a serious violation of the beneficiaries’ rights”, says the summons request.
