The NGO wrote a letter criticizing the government () and saying it had suffered an attack on its reputation.
The document, signed by François Valérian, president of the board of Transparency International, is addressed to the ministers (Civil House), (General Secretariat) and Vinicius Carvalho (General Comptroller of the Union).
On Monday (5), the Civil House published a press release in which it disqualified a survey on federal works carried out by the entity and called it an “NGO investigated by “.
The Brazilian division of the organization had also released on Monday a study questioning the lack of public information about projects under the (Growth Acceleration Program), one of the main banners of the According to the work, only 6% of a total of R$1.3 trillion in federal investments are publicly detailed.
To answer the questions, the ministry released a note contesting the entity, in which it cites the police investigation and states that all information about the projects is available on its channels.
The letter signed by the NGO director says that the statement that the entity is under police investigation is “of particular gravity”, having caused surprise and “serious concerns”.
“There is no public record of this investigation. TI Brasil was never formally notified of an investigation, nor is there documentation to support this claim. This raises serious questions about how a federal agency could admit knowledge of an alleged police action and whether confidential information is being improperly evoked for political purposes.”
The letter demands that Rui Costa (PT) explain the statements and reaffirm his commitment to civic debate.
“Attempts to silence or discredit [organizações] undermine public trust and weaken the safeguards that protect programs.”
Before the Civil House’s demonstration, Transparency International had already stated that it is the target, in Brazil, of judicial harassment and defamation campaigns.
In February 2024, the minister of the (Supreme Federal Court) opened an investigation to investigate the alleged receipt of public resources by the organization in leniency agreements (a type of plea bargain by companies).
The entity has always classified this accusation as false, and, in October 2024, the (Attorney General’s Office) stated that there were no minimum elements indicating the existence of a crime.
The NGO has stated that unfounded allegations seek to delegitimize its actions and annul a billion-dollar fine imposed on the group (owner of JBS). The company stated to the Supreme Court in 2024 that the entity maintained a “shady partnership” with the Operation Lava Jato task force.
For Transparency International, the STF minister of the Public Ministry did not formalize the case’s closure.
