The former president of (Republicans) sent an amendment worth R$1 million to the city of João Pinheiro, in the northwest of Minas Gerais, where he is seeking votes to return to politics this year as .
Without , when he was impeached, Cunha did not have the right to parliamentary amendments, but he managed to “kindly”, in his words, with the leader of the Republicans in the Chamber of Deputies, Gilberto Abramo (MG).
The amendment worth R$1,050,000 was paid on November 6 to the João Pinheiro Municipal Health Fund. The Transparency Portal indicates that this is an amendment from the Health Committee of the Chamber of Deputies requested by Abramo.
states that he has no agreement with the leader of the Republicans. He says the deputy was just kind and he hopes he can reciprocate.
“I got the amendment through the leader of the party to which I am still affiliated, the Republicans, who is a deputy for Minas Gerais and who directed his amendment to meet the demand. He was just kind and met my demand, I hope I can repay the kindness”, he says.
Turbocharged with the the committee amendments became one of the STF (Supreme Federal Court) Flávio Dino due to the lack of transparency. Even formally sponsored by party leaders, resources can meet requests made by other parliamentarians through political agreements.
Abramo did not respond to the report’s contacts until the publication of this text.
The mayor of João Pinheiro, Gláucon Cardoso (Novo), recorded a video in which he thanks Cunha and says that the former president of the Chamber promised another R$1 million.
“Hello Doctor Eduardo Cunha, this is Gláucon, mayor of João Pinheiro. I would like to thank you for your investments in João Pinheiro, for trusting our municipality. You acquired two radio stations, you have already made an amendment here for us, you have invested R$ 1,050,000. And you already have a promise, which I know of, of more than R$ 1 million.”
When contacted by the report, Gláucon only said that the amendment was obtained through the president of the City Council, councilor Guilherme Coxa (PP). “It was through a councilor. I simply thanked him for the resource. It is a health resource”, he states.
Coxa says he met Cunha three times, the first time in August in Brasília in the Chamber of Deputies office of his daughter, congresswoman Dani Cunha (União Brasil-RJ).
The councilor says he requested resources and agricultural machinery for the municipality together with his colleague Uilian Motorista (Cidadania), vice-president of the City Council, and Cunha’s advisor in João Pinheiro, Wellington Casagrande.
Coxa praises Cunha for having managed to serve the city just over three months later and says he believes he will be well voted in the region.
“He already sent this R$1,050,000 without being a deputy. He thinks, deputy, what he’s not going to do here for people in our region. Even though he’s outside of politics and isn’t a deputy in office, he has a great relationship”, he states.
“I believe he will be very well voted here in our city due to what he has already been doing, the investments he made, acquiring two radio stations here in our city. He is strong on this and the evangelical community is very united.”
After more than 40 years of political life in Rio de Janeiro, Cunha has launched an offensive in Minas Gerais to try to return to Congress without sharing Rio’s votes with his daughter. The strategy involves an alliance with local leaders and the purchase of radio stations to distribute gospel content. In João Pinheiro alone, a municipality with 49 thousand inhabitants 450 km from Belo Horizonte, there were two.
Cunha has a weekly program on the radio network and participates in promotions. Last week, he gave a listener the keys to a car that had been drawn.
In conversations with mayors and councilors, he highlights the impeachment of former president Dilma Rousseff (PT), and claims to have had the courage to face the PT, according to reports. He spent more than three years in prison as a result of an investigation into Operation Lava Jato.
Today, the former president of the Chamber says he is “running everywhere” and traveling throughout Minas Gerais. “I don’t look for a lot of votes anywhere, but a little in each place”, he states, citing the municipalities of Uberaba, Uberlândia, Juiz de Fora and Governador Valadares, which are in different regions of the state.
Asked about the information that he had announced more resources, he stated that he did not promise anything. “I just make an effort to try to help. If the effort is successful, then more can be achieved”, he says.
The João Pinheiro City Council created tax amendments (whose payment is mandatory by the mayor) last year. Each councilor is now entitled to R$200,000 — that is, one-fifth of the amount obtained in one go through the amendment from the Health Committee of the Chamber of Deputies.
Matheus Vargas, from Brasília, collaborated
