The mayor of Santa Cruz do Sul (RS), Nicole Weber (Somos), said she received $ 1.3 million in “gift” amendments from her fiancé, Federal Deputy Covatti Filho (PP-RS), with whom she should get married in May.
“I barely knew this could have been resolved indoors,” said the councilwoman on video on social networks, announcing she got the feature for a renovation of the Santa Cruz Hospital, which has 247 beds and serves several cities in the region.
“Deputy Covatti Filho, my fiancé, gave me as a gift to me to the community, to the Santa Cruz Hospital, R $ 1.3 million to make the entire new electrical part of the São Francisco ward,” says the councilwoman in the recording in front of the Esplanade of Ministries in Brasilia, on February 21.
She states that the resources will also serve to put amended ares in the unit. “Surely, I, as a councilwoman, think this is one of the biggest gifts I can give to my community,” he adds.
The amendment intended by the parliamentarian is not illegal. The transfer, however, occurs amidst questions of the Supreme Court (STF), which charges more transparency about both the authors and the benefits of the amendments.
To date, the amendment has not been registered in the Federal Government’s payment system. The report tries to contact Covatti and Nicole, still unanswered.
In 2022, Covatti was not even among the 20 most voted in the city for federal deputy. The municipality gave 221 of the 112,910 votes he received to reelect himself to the third term.
This is the first time that the deputy sends funds to the city. The parliamentarian was first elected in 2015 and since then had not allocated any amendment for the municipality, according to the Federal Government’s transparency portal.
Nicole and Covatti often publish passionate statements on social networks. In June last year, when they completed a year and a half together, the councilwoman posted a video recalling the beginning of the relationship. “Believe in love,” says the post, signed by the two.
Nicole is in her second term and is quoted to be a candidate for state deputy in 2026. She was the second most voted councilwoman in Santa Cruz do Sul in last year, with 3,749 votes.
In her profile, she usually presents herself as a defender of women’s rights. He called “total setback”, for example, the recent decision of the Catalonia court in Spain to acquit player Daniel Alves of a conviction for rape.
