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Corporate email from the former president of the (INSS) reveals that the federal deputy (PDT-CE) requested a meeting with the head of the body for , one of the main entities investigated in , in April last year.
At the time, Figueiredo (featured photo) was national president of the PDT — the same party as the then Minister of Social Security — and Ambec had already been mentioned in the series of reports on Metropolises which revealed the . According to the Comptroller General of the Union (CGU), .
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The request to schedule the meeting appears in a database with emails from Stefanutto’s corporate address at , analyzed by the report. The message cited is dated April 11, 2024, with the subject “Meeting with Deputy André Figueiredo (PDT/CE), Agenda: presentation of the Ambec entity”. Part of Stefanutto’s agenda is not included on the INSS transparency website, including the events of April 11 last year.
Although the email mentions the presence of the PDT deputy, the parliamentarian’s office presented proof that he was at an event in Fortaleza (CE) that day, where he received an honor. Figueiredo explains that, at the time, he was unaware of any irregular activity on the part of Ambec and that he responded to a request to present the “new board” of Ambec to the president of the INSS.
“Deputy André Figueiredo receives numerous requests for meetings every day from entities, citizens and representatives from different sectors. At the time, the office was only informed that Ambec intended to present its new board of directors. A first important point: all contact between the office was carried out in an institutional and transparent manner with the INSS, through the official email”, he states.
“The parliamentarian reinforces that, if he had been aware of any involvement of the entity in irregular events, he would not have made any referral, even if it was just the presentation of the board”, completes the note from the PDT deputy.
Fifteen days before, however, the Metropolises had published a report showing that . Ambec, which had already been mentioned in , in December 2023, was the entity that grew the most in the period, reaching 600 thousand members and revenue of R$30 million per month.
Deputy André Figueiredo took command of the PDT in 2023, when Carlos Lupi left the party presidency to become the government’s Social Security Minister (PT). During the former minister’s testimony to the INSS CPMI, the parliamentarian called Lupi a friend. During the commission, he used his testimony to defend the former minister and said that he “does not have the defect of dishonesty”.
Alessandro Stefanutto left the presidency of the INSS shortly after Operation Without Discount, launched by the Federal Police () in April this year against the scheme that raised R$6.3 billion in discounts from retirees and pensioners. Carlos Lupi was fired by President Lula at the beginning of May, in an attempt to remove the INSS scandal from the Palácio do Planalto.
Who is Ambec
Ambec is one of the entities targeted by the PF and CGU for its involvement in the INSS Farra, revealed by the Metropolises. According to the CGU, the entity has received around R$453 million in discounts from retirees irregularly since 2021, when it signed its Technical Cooperation Agreement (ACT) with the INSS.
It claimed to offer 11 types of services to its members, such as dental insurance, legal guidance, and funeral assistance, but it did not provide any of them. In this way, says the CGU, all amounts received by Ambec through the ACT signed with the INSS would have been “gaining an undue advantage”.
According to the Metropolises revealed, Ambec had as its statutory directors employees and relatives of executives from the group of companies owned by businessman Maurício Camisotti, who was arrested by the PF last month along with lobbyist Antonio Carlos Camilo Antunes, appointed as the main financial operator of the scheme. Everyone denies the accusations.
The defense of businessman Maurício Camisotti states that there is no reason to justify his arrest as part of the operation related to the investigation of INSS fraud. In a statement to the INSS CPMI, Antunes denied having paid bribes to directors of the federal agency and stated that all the amounts he received or paid were for services provided in a lawful manner.
Alessandro Stefanutto acknowledged the possibility of benefits granted irregularly by entities in a statement to the INSS CPMI this week, but denied any direct involvement in the scheme, stating that he had instituted mechanisms such as biometrics and digital signatures to prevent fraud.
