In a statement to CPMI, the president of the municipality, Gilberto Waller Júnior, denied that his work was boycotted and defended the government’s actions to disrupt the billion-dollar fraud scheme.
During the hearing held this Thursday (5), Gilberto Waller denied that he feels sabotaged in the presidency of the INSS. To the rapporteur, Alfredo Gaspar (União-AL), Waller confirmed that his request for dismissal as a civil servant was denied by minister Wolney Queiroz.
The director mentioned is Léa Bressy Amorim and the measure would have been motivated by her proximity to the former president of the body Alessandro Stefanutto. “In fact, she is Director of Information Technology. It is a sensitive area for the entire INSS, and we understood the need for change technically”, he explained to CPMI.
Waller also reiterated that his appointment is not related to the current minister in the portfolio. Asked about his history in public administration, the current president of the INSS cited technical performance and recalled the time he was the Union’s general ombudsman.
The hearing lasted more than seven hours and had tense moments, for example, when the opposition pointed out inconsistencies in parts of the INSS head’s speech. The president of CPMI, Carlos Viana (Podemos-MG), gave the deponent the opportunity to explain himself and resolved the situation.
To deputies and senators, Walller defended the agreement proposed by the government for retirees and pensioners for compensation. Planalto’s orientation, according to him, was to seek restitution for the treasury with those who, in fact, caused losses through billion-dollar fraud.
“Did it come from the INSS budget? No. A provisional measure with extraordinary credit was issued, with authorization from the Federal Supreme Court. So, it was not from the INSS budget. Retirees and pensioners were not harmed twice”, he told the senators.
Master Bank mentioned
The president of INSS stated that the municipality was the first institution to take action against Banco Master. “The INSS had an agreement in force since 2020. This agreement ended in August. In September we interrupted the cooperation agreement. In October we did not sign the term of commitment, notifying the institution. In other words, the INSS, before being notified about any Master situation, was the first to turn on the alert”, stated Waller.
Also in his statement, the president of the INSS mentioned that technical cooperation was not renewed due to the number of complaints from policyholders. “And we found that there was something wrong with Master. We understood that there is no way they can continue providing services to our retirees and pensioners with this level of complaints”, he said.
Gilberto Waller stated that the number of complaints received from retirees indicated that “something was wrong” and “smelled bad” in relation to Banco Master’s performance in granting payroll loans.
Banco Master is the target of an investigation by the PF (Federal Police) for alleged billion-dollar fraud. Faced with signs of irregular activity, the Central Bank ordered the liquidation of Master in November last year.
