During the testimony of the Minister of Social Security, Wolney Queiroz, At the Senate Supervisory and Control Commission on Thursday (15), the senators debated in a climate of Parliamentary Committee of Inquiry (CPI) about the allegations of fraud in the INSS.
The minister himself even said that he would support an investigation committee, but warned that this would need to happen without disturbing the ongoing findings and reimbursement to those affected by the problem. “Whatever the data will be sought at the Comptroller General of the Union (CGU) and the Federal Police (PF). I fear a greater delay in investigations and this delayed the reimbursement of users. We are giving absolute priority to reimbursement. It needs to be careful if the CPI is installed,” he added.
There are two requests to create investigative committees on INSS fraud currently in the legislature; one in the House and another in Congress. The one that has been gaining more strength is the proposal to create a Mixed Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry (CPMI) – composed of both deputies and senators.
Mayor Hugo Motta (Republicans-PB) said he has a CPI line in front of the INSS. Therefore, the possibility of CPMI has increased, which still needs to be installed by the president of the Senate and Congress, David Alcolumbre (Union-AP). So far, there are no signatures of PT parliamentarians in the requirements for the creation of the commissions.
PT leader in the Senate, Rogério Carvalho (SE), said the party would sign the request. “If you change the determined fact of CPMI, not to be a commission to make politics on the one hand, but to restore retirees’ money and for us to put in jail who really took money from retirees. We will investigate, without any problem of making deeper investigation, without turning into a political stage,” she thought.
Senator Jacques Wagner (PT-BA), the Senate government leader, acknowledged that he may also sign the CPMI application. “The wind will change sideways and it will be clear who created this trambique,” he said. There is an exchange of accusations between base and opposition about the “paternity” of the Scheme in the INSS, which would have begun in the government of Jair Bolsonaro (PL).
Behind the scenes, governors even consider parliamentary to occupy spaces in the commission. It gets breath, for example, the name of Deputy Tábata Amaral (PSB-SP) for the rapporteur of the case.
The deputy said that, so far, there was no such conversation, but did not rule out accepting. According to her, the priority now is to ensure that CPMI is indeed installed. “I am willing to assume a relevant role in the commission, to ensure the independence of the investigation,” said the parliamentarian.
According to Tabata, this is not a party agenda. He added: “It is an initiative to combat structural corruption, which crosses different governments and political parties. CPMI can reveal the involvement of different parties, so at this time, the focus is on the need to happen.”
What does the opposition say?
The opposition works for the installation, whether of a CPI in the House or a CPMI in Congress, and has already collected the signatures necessary for any of the options.
According to former Bolsonaro government minister Senator Sergio Moro, (Union-PR), “CPMI is necessary, because the federal government has omitted for two years in the face of complaints, without taking any action and only acted when it left in the press.” “Now, we are seeing the government trying to leave out some associations. If we are letting out it will not come to a good end. So far there is no one arrested,” he said.
Asked if the Bolsonaro government fraud should also be investigated, he said yes. “They started before and were detected later, when there was a large volume of discounts. There was a climb. Now, it has to investigate everything,” added the former minister.
Senator Magno Malta (PL-ES) argued that CPMI has to investigate the facts seriously. “And not enter CPMI to invent that there is a narrative, which has a blow that was thought three years earlier. They are already saying that they have been doing this to flow in these last two years of the Lula administration and that Bolsonaro is to blame, because he started,” he said.
