Emgea (Asset Management Company) sponsored a book organized by the sister of an ally of its CEO, the former governor of Fernando Pimentel ().
The state-owned company created in 2001 to manage Caixa Econômica Federal’s real estate credit portfolio gave R$177,000 for the publication of , organized by journalist and historian Cândida Lemos, about a meeting of the student movement repressed by the dictatorship in 1977. Emgea was the only sponsor.
Cândida is the sister of the former Minister of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade Mauro Borges Lemos, who is now an advisor to the president of Caixa.
Mauro was president of ABDI (Brazilian Agency for Industrial Development) when Pimentel commanded the MDIC (Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade), a department to which the agency is subordinate.
When Pimentel left his post in April 2014 to run for the Government of Minas Gerais, Mauro replaced him. After the PT member, he appointed his ally to command Cemig, the state’s state-owned energy company.
Both are professors at the Faculty of Economics at UFMG (Federal University of Minas Gerais).
The sponsorship granted to Cândida Lemos’ project is among the ten largest paid in 2024 by the state-owned company. In total, 34 projects were supported last year by the company, with funds between R$100,000 and R$199,000.
According to the notice for Emgea sponsorships, the Sponsorship Analysis Committee was made up of “three people assigned to Emgea, appointed by the CEO of Emgea and its directors”. The commission analyzed whether the projects presented met the technical requirements of the selection notice.
Emgea said that “the project was selected through a public notice, carried out by this company, to sponsor projects registered in the Rouanet Law and the General Sports Law”. “After publication of the notice, Emgea received applications from 134 candidates. The candidates were classified and selected, according to the criteria in the notice, by an evaluation committee”, he added.
Regarding a possible conflict of interests, the state-owned company responded that “the entire process was carried out through the publication of a notice with clear criteria regarding the condition of candidates for qualification. Once the criteria were met, any citizen could qualify.”
Regarding the suitability of the project to Emgea’s activities and strategic objectives, the company pointed out that “the project reports on one of the most important historical moments for the re-democratization of the country”. “It is in Emgea’s interest to recognize the commitment and courage of everyone who contributed, with bravery, to the construction of Democracy”, he pointed out.
When questioned, Cândida Lemos stated that the sponsorship was obtained through a public notice issued by Emgea for projects already registered in the Federal Culture Incentive Law. “I participated in the selection process. The results of all those selected were published on the Emgea website as well as in the Official Gazette of the Union.” She did not respond to the question whether there was a conflict of interest.
In 2024, of the 134 registered projects, 73 met the requirements to receive resources.
Within this total, the executive board, led by Pimentel, was responsible for “evaluating the projects that best fit the company’s profile and indicating the resources to be released for each of the projects selected by this board”, according to Emgea’s internal report obtained through the LAI (Access to Information Law).
Among the projects that were not selected by the state-owned company are, among others, resources for the maintenance and production of documentary cinema.
The state-owned company did not sponsor any projects between 2019 and 2022. With Pimentel’s arrival at the helm in the president’s government (PT), the company allocated R$2 million to eleven projects in 2023 and R$4.8 million to 40 initiatives in 2024.
Between 2015 and 2019, the only sponsorship was for the National Conciliation and Mediation Forum, organized by the Association of Federal Judges of Brazil.
