The former president of Alessandro Stefanutto discussed with the rapporteur of the CPI (Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry) that investigates irregular discounts on pensions, deputy Alfredo Gaspar (União-AL), at a meeting of the collegiate this Monday (13).
One of the members of the panel said that the deponent should have been arrested in the act for contempt, but the president of the commission, senator Carlos Viana (Podemos-MG), blocked the maneuver.
Gaspar showed a news item to CPI members reporting that a lawyer had asked for money to register companies in the INSS discount system in Stefanutto’s name. The deponent denied any irregularity and reacted. There was the following dialogue:
Stefanutto: If you think that asking this question is not disrespectful, because it is a newspaper question, the other day I saw you here quite upset because your name was on the website of a certain entity. So, newspaper news, website news…
Gaspar: Respect me, boy!
Stefajutto: You respect me!
Gaspar: You being the head of the biggest theft of retirees and pensioners.
At that moment the atmosphere in the room became tense, with other members of the CPI speaking out outside the microphone. “This is a shame,” said the deponent. Carlos Viana asked people to calm down. Gaspar returned to his inquiry and repeated the same question. The session was then suspended at the request of the deponent’s defense.
With the meeting already suspended and the microphones turned off, Stefanutto and Gaspar argued and pointed fingers at each other. When the CPI returned to work, the deputy (Novo-RS) asked for the deponent’s arrest in the act for contempt.
“There is no need for arrest in the act for contempt,” replied the president of the collegiate. Later, in a conversation with journalists, Alfredo Gaspar said that, if he had been president of the commission, he would have arrested the deponent.
The former president of the INSS testified under the protection of a habeas corpus granted by the minister of the STF (Supreme Federal Court) Luiz Fux. The Supreme Court judge cleared him to remain silent rather than answer questions that could incriminate him.
Fux also decided that it was up to Stefanutto and his defense to judge which questions could or could not incriminate him. In practice, it gave him the right to choose which questions he would answer.
Members of the CPI have complained about STF decisions that allow deponents to remain silent, lie or even not attend collegiate meetings. The orders come from ministers such as Flávio Dino, André Mendonça and Nunes Marques, in addition to Fux.
President of the CPI, Caros Viana has already criticized these STF decisions, but praised Fux’s. “There is a very clear limit to what the Constitution guarantees, and we will be able to work”, declared the senator at the beginning of the meeting.
The rapporteur, Alfredo Gaspar, however, expressed discomfort with Fux’s decision and the combative stance of the former INSS president. “The fact that it came with habeas corpus gives it this ridiculous authority. All that’s left is for the deponent to arrive and urinate on the table because of these habeas corpus,” the deputy declared to journalists.
The deponent said that, in October 2024, he sent letters to the PF (Federal Police) and the Civil Police of São Paulo to obtain more information about signs of irregular discounts, but that he did not receive them. “I await the response from these two offices until today,” he declared.
Stefanutto was asked about his financial transactions. He stated that there was a “massive error” by the authorities in pointing out transactions worth R$280,000.
“There is a Pix of R$ 280 thousand, from me to myself. I received my resources from AGU [Advocacia Geral da União]I took it out at Banco do Brasil and sent it to Itaú to pay my bank loan, and I paid my loan”, he said. Stefanutto is a career employee at AGU.
Alessandro Stefanutto was president of the INSS in April this year, when one of the PF and the CGU (General Comptroller of the Union) made the scandal of irregular discounts public. He .
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