The Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad, stated this Wednesday (19) that the text of the Antifaction Bill approved by the Chamber of Deputies represents a direct weakening of the Federal Police’s (PF) role in combating organized crime.
According to him, by changing the distribution of resources from seized assets, the report produced by deputy Guilherme Derrite (PP-SP) “financially suffocates the Federal Police and not organized crime”.
Haddad cited three recent PF operations — involving money laundering in Faria Lima, the fuel mafia in Rio de Janeiro and fraud in the financial system in Brasília — to argue that the corporation is experiencing “its best moment of action” and that changes made without dialogue put this progress at risk.
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“In less than four months, we disrupted gigantic schemes of corruption, money laundering and organized crime. We cannot allow these operations to be weakened by a report voted in a rushed manner”, he stated.
Review in the Senate
Haddad said that the approved text was taken to the plenary “without experts being heard, without public debate and without the bodies involved having the opportunity to express themselves”.
For the minister, the approved version mischaracterizes the original project sent by the government, prepared under the coordination of the Minister of Justice, Ricardo Lewandowski, and designed to integrate the Federal Revenue, COAF, Public Ministry and PF in the repression of factions.
According to him, the government will try to reverse the changes in the Senate. “When the text reaches the Senate, we will work to return to the original project,” he said.
Risk to operations
Haddad, who is also responsible for the Federal Revenue and Customs, stated that the PL creates loopholes that could weaken the forfeiture of assets, a mechanism to financially drain criminal organizations.
He cited as an example the seizure, in Rio de Janeiro, of five ships with 250 million liters of fuel, whose faithful custodian is Petrobras.
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“Are you going to complicate the forfeiture and open gaps for the criminals to act, instead of strengthening the bodies that fight corruption and organized crime?”, he asked.
The minister also stated that, if discovered in one of the recent operations against Banco Master.
For him, this highlights the need to strengthen inspection bodies. “We have to reinforce the Public Ministry, COAF, PF, Federal Revenue. It doesn’t make sense to take money from the PF at a time when it delivers the most results.”
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PF capacity
When defending integration between institutions, Haddad stated that the country is experiencing an unprecedented opportunity to weaken large criminal structures.
“We are beginning to dismantle schemes that drain resources from communities, that make workers’ lives precarious. If we don’t stifle organized crime, we will continue to replace cheap labor for these organizations.”
Haddad said that he did not speak with President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) after the vote, as Lula went to Belém for COP30, but that he will discuss the issue during a joint trip to South Africa.
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